Slaven Bilic took charge of 109 games for West Ham between 2015-2017, managing a ratio of 1.43 points per match in his time at the club. The Croatian coach also managed West Brom and Watford in England, and now currently finds himself without a club.
In his first season at the Hammers, Bilic led the Hammers to a seventh-place finish in the Premier League, ending up with 62 points, missing out on automatic Europa League qualification by just one point, behind Southampton, who finished sixth with 63 points that season.
His second year at the club took a turn, as the club went back to the bottom half of the table, finishing 11th on 45 points. Then, following a poor start to 2017/18, Bilic was sacked in November 2017 after a 4-1 loss at the London Stadium to Liverpool.
Many will look back on Bilic’s time at West Ham as a positive, and sympathise with his dismissal, as during the 2016/17 season, the Irons did sell their star man, and didn’t really manage to bring in a replacement for him in the 2017/18 summer window.
Bilic's 2017/18 transfer window
West Ham made five signings in the 2017/18 summer window, spending around £37.8m on four permanent transfers, and one loan deal. Seven players were also let go during this window, bringing in around £25.5m in fees.
The two big-money moves of the summer were made to bring Marko Arnautovic to the club from Stoke, and Javier Hernandez from Bayer Leverkusen. Arnautovic was initially bought in as a wide player option but soon became the focal point for the Hammers, which still left them short in wide areas.
Marko Arnautovic
£18.5m
Javier Hernandez
£14.8m
Sead Haksabanovic
£2.5m
Joe Hart
£1.9m
Pablo Zabaleta
£0
Whilst a few of these signings turned out to be good value, they didn’t manage to address the issue of West Ham losing their key creator and talisman, and that, of course, was Dimitri Payet, who returned to Marseille in January 2017 for a fee of around £25m.
Where Are They Now
Your star player or biggest flop has left the club but what are they doing in the present day? This article is part of Football FanCast's Where Are They Now series.
Dimitri Payet then and now
In the Frenchman’s spell with the Hammers, he made 60 appearances, scoring 15 goals, providing 22 assists, and totalling 4,981 minutes.
It was his time in England that saw praise from the likes of Patrice Evra, Bacary Sagna, and even Kingsley Coman, who labelled Payet as “extraordinary” in 2016.
When Payet did leave West Ham in 2017, he returned to Marseille, playing a further six years at the French club and racking up 326 appearances in total, netting 78 times, and providing 95 assists. He also managed 38 caps for his country, scoring eight goals.
At 37-years-old, where is Payet now? Well, he is playing for Vasco da Gama in Brazil and is valued at just £300k by Football Transfers. The club are apparently unhappy with his “cringeworthy” performances as of late which has led to reports suggesting they could well terminate his contract.
This season, the Frenchman has made 36 appearances for the club, scoring five times, providing nine assists, and totalling 2,234 minutes played.
Now coming towards the end of his career, if Vasco decides to part ways with Payet, that could be it for the 37-year-old who could retire. However, fans will always wonder what could have been had Payet not left the club so abruptly back in 2017.
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ByEthan LambNov 6, 2024