It was a notable weekend for former West Ham United hero Dimitri Payet and summer striker target Maxi Gomez.
Anyone who has been following Gomez’s time at Valencia so far will know the Uruguayan has struggled badly.
The long-running transfer battle between West Ham and Valencia for the 22-year-old eventually fell in favour of the La Liga side.
But he has endured a torrid start to life at Los Che, giving West Ham fans, who were left reeling by his snub, a degree of satisfaction.
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Maxi’s misery after West Ham snub
Gomez has barely kicked a ball for struggling Valencia, is already being questioned by the club’s fans and saw the manager who pushed the boat out to sign him sacked last week.
Things improved on a personal level for Gomez at the weekend, though, as the former Hammers target scored his first goal for Valencia.
The only problem is it was merely a consolation in a 5-2 drubbing at the hands of Barcelona, a result which leaves Gomez’s side 14th in the fledgling La Liga table.
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Payet shows Hammers form with Marseille stunner
Someone who did once sign for the Hammers, but upset fans all the same by leaving, also had an eventful weekend.
French magician Payet is widely regarded to have enjoyed the best season of his career when he joined West Ham.
The statistics back that up too.
Hammers fans take great solace in the fact he has struggled to hit those heights again since.
But a lean and mean looking Payet showed his West Ham form for Marseille against Monaco on Sunday night.
Payet scored a world class goal to put L’OM 3-2 up after they had been trailing 2-0 in an eventual 4-3 victory.
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New-look West Ham can go one better
The video below shows the brilliant goal which will bring back plenty of good memories for Hammers fans.
Marseille fans: “We need a goal…”
Dimitri Payet: “I got you!”
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) September 15, 2019
Marseille’s win put them fourth in the Ligue 1 table.
And West Ham can go one better than that tonight as victory at Aston Villa will put Manuel Pellegrini’s side in third place in the Premier League standings.
