For Dimitri Payet, this is not the first time. He has tried this trick before.

In January 2011, Payet decided his time was up at French club Saint-Etienne. Payet had been made aware that Paris Saint-Germain had made an offer and he sensed opportunity. So he refused to train and then missed a game against Toulouse.

'He needs to stop being an idiot,' said the Saint-Etienne chairman Ronald Romeyer.

Dimitri Payet departs the West Ham training ground on Thursday in his Ferrari 458 Speciale

The France international left Rush Green, without training, in his sports car worth £208,000

Payet, pictured during his time at Nantes, has made a habit of throwing a tantrum

Much like West Ham, Saint-Etienne adopted a firm stance. They maintained it in the January window but could not resist five months later, when Payet joined Lille.

This, sadly, is how Payet appears to operate. For it to happen once, as a naive and petulant 23-year-old, is one thing. For it to happen again at the age of 29 seems calculated.

For those who have observed Payet's career, there was hope that he had finally turned the corner at West Ham and found a home in English football.

By the end of last season, Payet had signed a new five-year contract, had earned a place on the six-man shortlist for PFA Player of the Year and improbably made the France Euro 2016 squad having previously been overlooked for years.

Yet well-placed sources in France were cautious, privately warning that Payet's lack of discipline might invariably rear his head.

The playmaker has refused to play for West Ham as he angles for a move away

Payet spent his childhood on Reunion Island, a remote French territory between Mauritius and Madagascar. As a 12-year-old, he moved to mainland France. At Le Havre, a French club famed for its youth system, Payet struggled to adapt.

By the age of 16, they sent him back to the Indian Ocean island, citing his poor application in training and bad attitude towards schoolwork.

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When Sportsmail visited the French club last summer, it was curious to see products of the academy such as Riyad Mahrez, Paul Pogba and Lassana Diarra on the walls of the training ground.

By contrast, it took coaches over half-an-hour to dig out one picture of Payet from an old storage cupboard.

Payet was handed a second chance when he signed for Nantes in 2005. His talent shone brightly but he attracted headlines for the wrong reasons when he furiously confronted Fabien Barthez during a training session.

The former Manchester United goalkeeper had tackled the midfielder from behind and Payet wanted retribution. Ex team Vincent Briant said: 'He did what he wanted when he wanted to do it'

When Nantes were relegated, he stayed in the top-flight with Saint-Etienne. Since then, Payet's career has progressed but it has been punctuated by discipline. At St. Etienne in 2010, he had an on-field bust-up with Blaise Matuidi, punching his team-mate in the head.

At Lille and Marseille, Payet's form improved but manager Marcelo Bielsa had to be demanding, threatening to drop the forward if he was deemed to be lazy in training.

Now at West Ham, the old Payet has returned once more.