Dimitri Payet didn't speak to his West Ham teammates for eight weeks before his £25 million move back to Marseille, according to co-chairman David Sullivan.

The Hammers were initially unwilling to sell their talisman but Sullivan admitted it became near-impossible to keep Payet at the London Stadium.

“I think for the last six or eight weeks, he's not been talking to anybody in the squad,” Sullivan told BBC Radio 5Live.

“He's gone to the corner of a room for his meals and isolated himself from everybody. Before that, he was bubbly and happy, shakes everyone's hand before the match.

“Either it was a tactic or something in his head had changed. The team wanted him out. The manager, with the greatest reluctance, wanted him out. And as much as we didn't want him out, you can't go against the consensus of the team and manager.”

Payet also paid West Ham back his January wages.