Marseille star Dimitri Payet has revealed his reason for rejecting a move to Swansea City is because he felt they aren’t a “very big club”, so he decided to stay in France.
Payet, 27, was all set to make his move to south Wales last week when the two clubs agreed a fee of £6.7 million but he turned their offer down, despite admitting that is was financially attractive, as he wanted to prove himself in France and improve on an average campaign last season.
Gary Monk is looking at strengthening his squad ahead of the new season after avoiding relegation last season, and Payet was seen as an important buy until he turned their offer down and decided to stay in France with Marseille.
Payet admitted that his performances last season were not good enough and he was hoping for an offer from a “very big club”, which didn’t arrive, citing the Swans as not big enough for him to make the move to England.
“Am I attracted by Swansea proposition? With all respect I have for Swansea I am absolutely not attracted,” he told L’Equipe. “Since first contact between the club and my agent, I declined the offer. I want to go on at l’OM.
“Since the start, I was sure [I wanted] to stay. I immediately talked to the chairman. Even if the press stated I didn’t make my choice so far. Those rumours must be stopped.
“Indeed on a financial level the offer is very attractive. But being 27, I still have sporting objectives and I decided to stay. If a very big club wanted to contact me it would have done so already. I was average last season, I should have done much more to be a serious target. You never know in football but today I can say I will stay at l’OM 100 per cent.”
Payet scored eight goals and created 65 chances in Ligue 1 last season.