Former West Ham defender Rio Ferdinand has criticised Dimitri Payet for the lack of respect he has shown after the Frenchman pushed for a move back to former club Marseille.

The winger signed a new £125,000-a-week five-year contract in February last year, and appeared to be happy in East London. However, after a tough second season, Payet has refused to play for West Ham as he attempts to force a move back to France.

Dmitri Payet

While owner David Sullivan assertively said that the club “do not want to sell Dimitri, we do not need to sell Dimitri for financial or any other reasons, and we will NOT sell Dimitri in the January transfer window,” it is thought that if Marseille were to offer £30million, a deal could be struck.

Now Rio Ferdinand has had his say on the on-going transfer saga, declaring if it was up to him, he would let Payet “sit and rot.”

“What should West Ham do with him? It is not a difficult one,” Ferdinand said.

“I look at it from when I played football and I would never have said: ‘I am not playing.’

I had problems at football clubs at different times. At Manchester United, I had problems with the club at various times, with certain people, but it never entered my mind not to play.

“You owe it to the club and the fans – especially where he came from before he got to West Ham. They gave him the platform to play at the Euros last summer, they gave him a platform to get a new contract and to become a player that is known in the football world, and you have to respect that.”