Premier League flop opens up on fiery feud with former team-mate Dimitri Payet – as he claims ex-West Ham star ‘stuck a knife’ in his back
Former Newcastle midfielder Florian Thauvin has recalled his long-running feud with Dimitri Payet from their time together in Marseille.
The 31-year-old had two spells with the Ligue 1 side, playing alongside Payet during both spells.
Thauvin, who now plays for Udinese, first came to Marseille in 2013, the same year as Payet, and the pair were at odds during their first spell playing together.
They both left to challenge for the Premier League in 2015, with Payet becoming an erratic playmaker at West Ham while Thauvin struggled at Newcastle.
However, in 2017 they would both return to the ten-time French champions on a permanent basis and the bad blood between the two reached boiling point.
While speaking out about his poor relationship with Payet, Thauvin initially downplayed the rhetoric that the two were at odds when they reunited.
Florian Thauvin (left) believes Dimitri Payet (right) stabbed him ‘in the back’ while in Marseille
Thauvin (left) and Payet (right) had a contrasting two years between their two spells when they played together in Marseille
“The first two years went very well, for me there is no problem,” Thauvin said the Zack en Roue Libre show.
However, that feeling soon changed and as time passed, old feelings resurfaced.
“We continued and some time later there was a problem at the club with Dimitri,” he added.
The relationship between the two reached a breaking point when Marseille’s results started to go downhill following his arrival in 2019 under Andre Villas-Boas.
On one occasion, Thauvin – who won the World Cup with France in 2018 – claims Payet embarrassed him in the dressing room by shouting him out in front of all his teammates.
The feud between the two started in 2013 when they both came to Marseille for the first time, but worsened over time
Thauvin recalled: ‘(Payet said) “Flo, if you have a problem, tell me, because you play for yourself, you have to respect the team.”
The ordeal devastated the midfielder, who was so hurt by Payet’s words that he felt as if the former Hammer had ‘put a knife in my back’.
Thauvin left the club in 2021, while Payet remained at the Oranje Velodrome for another two years.
Although the two had their differences, they were both crucial in the club’s run to the 2018 Europa League final, which they lost to Atletico Madrid.