The word ‘mercenary’ has been bandied about a lot this week. It has been used so often about Dimitri Payet that it is surprising Karren Brady has not tried to trademark it.

West Ham are not the only London club going through a spell of breastbeating because one of their stars wants to leave.

At Chelsea, the fury directed at Diego Costa is palpable. Tianjin Quanjian of the Chinese Super League are said to be prepared to pay the striker £30million a year. Supporters who would switch jobs in an instant for a £30 per week pay hike rage at his apparent disloyalty.

Some yearn for the simpler, less craven days before money distorted modern football. It’s absurd.

There is a splendid irony at the thought of Chelsea being bullied financially over players. This is a club that helped transform the game and inflate the transfer market in the immediate aftermath of Roman Abramovich’s takeover 14 years ago.

Costa is highly paid and signed up for the next two years but he has little allegiance to Chelsea.

He knows that contracts only matter to a club when a player is productive. It’s a brutal business when you become surplus to requirements. No matter how happy and settled a player is, he is shown the door when he falls out of favour.

Those who refuse to leave are put through a series of indignities designed to force them out. Training with junior teams is one tactic. At Chelsea, Nicolas Anelka and Alex were banned from the first-team block at Cobham and told to move their vehicles to the youth car park. It does not matter how much a footballer earns, daily humiliations have a wearing effect. It is the other side of the coin to a player going on strike. Both sides are loyal only when it suits them.

The best moments of Dimitri Payet's debut West Ham season 13 show all The best moments of Dimitri Payet's debut West Ham season 1/13 Payet's best moments In a season of highs, what have been Dimitri Payet's greatest moments in his first season as a West Ham player? 2016 Getty Images 2/13 Arsenal vs West Ham, August 9 Payet’s goals have grabbed the headlines but his eight assists have been equally important this season. The Frenchman started in the best possible way teeing up Cheikhou Kouyate to head home with a sublime 40-yard free-kick against Arsenal. According to Kouyate, Payet told him before the game: “I will give you the ball and you will score.” 3/13 Bournemouth vs West Ham, January 12 Despite going a goal down to the Cherries, West Ham rallied to leave the south coast with all three points. Typically it was Payet who lit the touch paper with a stunning free-kick which dinked in off the underside of the crossbar to draw West Ham level. 4/13 New deal, February 11 In February, the 29-year-old signed a new contract that will keep him in east London till 2021. The bumper deal came just eight months after he joined the Hammers and ended speculation linking the Frenchman with a lucrative move to the Chinese Super League. 5/13 Blackburn vs West Ham, February 21 Fresh from signing a new deal with the club, West Ham’s standout performer of the season celebrated with a trademark free-kick. As usual, distance could not prevent Payet from giving his team a 2-1 victory and progression to the next round of the FA Cup. 6/13 West Ham vs Tottenham, March 2 Spurs were riding high in the league when they faced West Ham at Upton Park, but the Hammers put a huge dent in their London rivals’ league ambitions by winning 1-0. Payet set up West Ham’s winner, his near post corner finding Michail Antonio whose powerful header could only be palmed into the goal by Hugo Loris. 7/13 London Player of the Year, March 3 Payet pipped Tottenham striker Harry Kane, Chelsea's Willian, Watford forward Odion Ighalo and Arsenal playmaker Mesut Ozil to be named the best player in London in his maiden season in the capital. 8/13 West Ham vs Everton, March 5 Payet's 12 goals have powered West Ham's season and earned the team vital points. In a 3-2 thriller at Goodison park, it was Payet of course who rose to the occasion and swung the tie in West Ham’s favour. The Hammers were trailing 2-0 until Michail Antonio struck after 78 minutes. Three minutes later Diafra Sakho drew Slaven Bilic's men level before Payet latched on to a clever backheel from Sakho to fire between the legs of Joel Robles in injury time. 9/13 Manchester United vs West Ham, March 13 Against United in the quarter final of the FA Cup, Payet drew first blood driving an emphatic long-range free-kick into the left of David de Gea’s goal. United drew level later to take the tie to a replay. 10/13 France vs Russia, March 29 Payet had been out of the French squad for some time but his performances for West Ham earned him a recall against Russia. It was a chance he took in style by slamming home yet another free-kick from an impossible distance. 11/13 West Ham vs Crystal Palace, April 2 Palace boss Alan Pardew had warned his team not to give away free-kicks near the box, but Payet still found a way to hit one home. As his shot flew over the wall, Crystal Palace’s Damien Delaney heard a team-mate say 'see ya' expecting the ball to end up in the crowd. Instead it dipped wildly to land in the top corner with keeper Wayne Hennessey wrong-footed. 12/13 Player of the Year Shortlist, April 13 Payet was among six players included on the shortlist for the PFA Players' Player of the Year - and little over a week later was named in the union's team of year. The French playmaker, who missed out on the top prize to Riyad Mahrez of Leicester, was the first West Ham player to make the top flight's team of the season since Trevor Brooking in 1978. 13/13 West Ham end of season awards, May 5 Payet picks up five individual prizes including Hammer of the year, goal of the season, players' player of the year, signing of the season and top goalscorer. Not a bad haul. 1/13 Payet's best moments In a season of highs, what have been Dimitri Payet's greatest moments in his first season as a West Ham player? 2016 Getty Images 2/13 Arsenal vs West Ham, August 9 Payet’s goals have grabbed the headlines but his eight assists have been equally important this season. The Frenchman started in the best possible way teeing up Cheikhou Kouyate to head home with a sublime 40-yard free-kick against Arsenal. According to Kouyate, Payet told him before the game: “I will give you the ball and you will score.” 3/13 Bournemouth vs West Ham, January 12 Despite going a goal down to the Cherries, West Ham rallied to leave the south coast with all three points. Typically it was Payet who lit the touch paper with a stunning free-kick which dinked in off the underside of the crossbar to draw West Ham level. 4/13 New deal, February 11 In February, the 29-year-old signed a new contract that will keep him in east London till 2021. The bumper deal came just eight months after he joined the Hammers and ended speculation linking the Frenchman with a lucrative move to the Chinese Super League. 5/13 Blackburn vs West Ham, February 21 Fresh from signing a new deal with the club, West Ham’s standout performer of the season celebrated with a trademark free-kick. As usual, distance could not prevent Payet from giving his team a 2-1 victory and progression to the next round of the FA Cup. 6/13 West Ham vs Tottenham, March 2 Spurs were riding high in the league when they faced West Ham at Upton Park, but the Hammers put a huge dent in their London rivals’ league ambitions by winning 1-0. Payet set up West Ham’s winner, his near post corner finding Michail Antonio whose powerful header could only be palmed into the goal by Hugo Loris. 7/13 London Player of the Year, March 3 Payet pipped Tottenham striker Harry Kane, Chelsea's Willian, Watford forward Odion Ighalo and Arsenal playmaker Mesut Ozil to be named the best player in London in his maiden season in the capital. 8/13 West Ham vs Everton, March 5 Payet's 12 goals have powered West Ham's season and earned the team vital points. In a 3-2 thriller at Goodison park, it was Payet of course who rose to the occasion and swung the tie in West Ham’s favour. The Hammers were trailing 2-0 until Michail Antonio struck after 78 minutes. Three minutes later Diafra Sakho drew Slaven Bilic's men level before Payet latched on to a clever backheel from Sakho to fire between the legs of Joel Robles in injury time. 9/13 Manchester United vs West Ham, March 13 Against United in the quarter final of the FA Cup, Payet drew first blood driving an emphatic long-range free-kick into the left of David de Gea’s goal. United drew level later to take the tie to a replay. 10/13 France vs Russia, March 29 Payet had been out of the French squad for some time but his performances for West Ham earned him a recall against Russia. It was a chance he took in style by slamming home yet another free-kick from an impossible distance. 11/13 West Ham vs Crystal Palace, April 2 Palace boss Alan Pardew had warned his team not to give away free-kicks near the box, but Payet still found a way to hit one home. As his shot flew over the wall, Crystal Palace’s Damien Delaney heard a team-mate say 'see ya' expecting the ball to end up in the crowd. Instead it dipped wildly to land in the top corner with keeper Wayne Hennessey wrong-footed. 12/13 Player of the Year Shortlist, April 13 Payet was among six players included on the shortlist for the PFA Players' Player of the Year - and little over a week later was named in the union's team of year. The French playmaker, who missed out on the top prize to Riyad Mahrez of Leicester, was the first West Ham player to make the top flight's team of the season since Trevor Brooking in 1978. 13/13 West Ham end of season awards, May 5 Payet picks up five individual prizes including Hammer of the year, goal of the season, players' player of the year, signing of the season and top goalscorer. Not a bad haul.

Payet’s loyalty has been a big talking point at the London Stadium. The Frenchman is talented but the only reason he ended up in the East End for a knockdown fee of £10.7m was his reputation as a troublemaker.

For all his flair, the 29-year-old was always likely to push the self-destruct button. It is no surprise that Payet is looking for a way back to Marseille now things are not going so well for Slaven Bilic’s team.

If he is leaving for money then he is in good company. After all, West Ham departed their traditional home for a clearly unsuitable new ground in pursuit of extra lucre. The badge has been reworked to include the word ‘London’ and Brady, the vice-chairman, has talked about getting the “culture right”. She was not talking about heritage as fans recognise it. Brady was referring to the culture of business. The new stadium and iconography are designed to increase the value of the ‘brand’. In such circumstances it’s a bit rich for supporters to talk about money-mad players.

If Payet knew about the team’s history — and for all his badge kissing it is unlikely he ever cared — he might look to the Bobby Moore Stand and feel justified in forcing a way out.

West Ham make an awful fuss about Moore but they forget to mention that the golden boy of English football spent some of his best years as a player simmering with discontent because he was denied two opportunities to move to Tottenham. The claret-and-blue mythology of mutual love, fidelity and affection between Moore and the club is built on fiction.

Those were different days when there was no Bosman freedom of movement when a contract expired but players are still traded like chattels when it suits their employer. The howls of outrage when the likes of Costa and Payet try to turn the tables are hypocritical, even if their motivation is pure greed.

Actually, mercenary is probably the right description for much of football’s mindset but less in the gun-for-hire sense than the primacy-of-profit-over-ethics meaning of the word. It has been that way since the first man was paid to kick a ball and there is no sign of it changing now.

Costa and Payet are a contemporary manifestation of how things work but it was never any different. If Bobby Moore was alive, he would attest that there was no such thing as the good old days.

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