West Ham have completed the signing of French international Dimitri Payet from Marseille, the Premier League club announced on Friday.
Payet, 28, signed a five-year contract with an additional one-year option after meeting with new West Ham manager Slaven Bilic and joint-chairmen David Sullivan and David Gold.
West Ham and Marseille agreed a reported fee of around £11 million to bring the attacking midfielder to England.
Payet contributed seven goals and 17 assists last season, and leaves the Ligue 1 club with two years left on his contract.
OM needed to balance their books before the end of June and hope to sell highly rated midfielder Giannelli Imbula in order to do that, but they had also wanted to keep Payet.
Marseille president Vincent Labrune claimed Payet was "asking for the biggest salary in OM history."
"You can't play in France with the salary of a Premier League star," Labrune said.
BREAKING: #WHUFC are delighted to announce the signing of @FFF midfielder @dimpayet17 - http://t.co/VKFKizs6qj 1/3 pic.twitter.com/dD38zHyxxQ
- West Ham United FC (@whufc_official) June 26, 2015
Payet becomes Bilic's third signing of the summer, after the additions of Spanish midfielder Pedro Obiang and Republic of Ireland goalkeeper Darren Randolph.
"West Ham really showed me that they wanted me to come, both the joint-chairmen and the manager," Poyet told the club's website. "That's very important for me. I was also keen to sign up to a clear project. West Ham's is very interesting and matches perfectly with my ambitions.
"Firstly I spoke with the manager, who really wished for me to come here and had been watching me a lot. He made it clear that he wanted me to sign and that too was important in my choice.
"I'm an attacking footballer so for sure I like attacking football and that they're counting on me to help achieve that gives me a sense of responsibility. The fact that I'm here is also down to that.
"I'm very happy to be here. It's true that it's taken a little while but that's normal, negotiations are like that. But now that it's done, I'm very happy."
