Dimitri Payet’s loyalty is lauded by Marseille as France welcomes home man of ‘principle’ and ‘discipline’ after West Ham exit 

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'He comes in peace', read the headline in the French newspaper L'Equipe on Tuesday morning. After escaping the toxic hostility of east London, Dimitri Payet returns to national acclaim in France.

In Marseille on Monday, the mood was one of celebration. Marseille have their man and oh boy, do they want to shout about it.

In France, they enjoy getting one over on the English and the press corps in Marseille were amused and bemused in equal measure by the ferocity of West Ham's attacks on Payet's character in recent days.

Payet beams after rejoining Marseille from West Ham in a £25million deal

Dimitri Payet is unveiled as a Marseille player on Monday alongside club president Jacques-Henri Eyraud (right) and sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta

The return of Payet to Ligue 1 is heralded by the front cover of L'Equipe on Tuesday

To recap, manager Slaven Bilic insisted Payet refused to play or train. Owner David Sullivan said Payet refused to talk or eat with team-mates. Sullivan's son took to social media to compare Payet to a serpent. 

CEO Karren Brady offered to trade in replica shirts sporting Payet's name. His name has been airbrushed from a sign outside the clubs London Stadium.

So how Payet was pleased to return to tranquillity of southern France.

He had been in Paris over the weekend before heading south and reuniting with his wife Ludivine and their three young children.

The France international said he felt no need to 'justify' his mutinous behaviour to West Ham

 Payet has sealed a £25m return to Marseille after forcing his way out of West Ham

Payet signed a four-and-a-half-year deal, with the option of a further year, at Stade Velodrome

Marseille shared a video of the Frenchman undergoing his medical on Snapchat

He had dinner with his new manager Rudi Garcia on Sunday evening, where the two reflected on their time together previously at Lille. Garcia adores Payet. 

When I spoke to the coach this time last year, he was gushing over a free-kick Payet scored for West Ham at Blackburn. 'Like a pianist,' Garcia said. 'Repetition, repetition, repetition. That's how he mastered those free-kicks.'

In France, Payet's determination to return to his former club is admired.

For Marseille, this was a huge moment. The seeds of this transfer were sown as long ago as the European Championships when Payet declared 'Ici c'est chez moi' (My home is here) after scoring for France against Albania. 

Since then, Marseille have been making overtures in order to persuade Payet to return to the club. 

Payet tweeted a photograph of a plane, captioning it: 'I'm coming home'

Payet told West Ham he wanted out earlier this month and has been training with their U23s

The initial hope was to recruit Payet in the summer but after contact in October, the move accelerated beyond all expectations. It was intensified by his family's desire to return to France but also by Marseille's renewed wealth.

It is seen as a sign of the progress of Ligue 1, a flagging league that required an injection of adrenalin following the talent drain to the Premier League in recent years. This is deemed a major boost for France. 

Marseille, fuelled by the petro-dollars of real-estate magnate and former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, believe they can add competition to the French league along with PSG and Monaco in the years to come. 

This was a £25m transfer but also a £100,000-a-week salary that will take Payet through to his 34th birthday.

There is an option to extend the contract for an extra year. In the summer, we can expect more big-money recruits. This month, Patrice Evra has also signed, while attempts were made to sign Crystal Palace's Yohan Cabaye and Valencia's Aymen Abdennour.

Payet was filmed arriving in France for his medical on Sunday ahead of completing his move

The French playmaker has made the move from West Ham to Marseille for a fee of up to £30m

Inside a small room at the Robert Louis-Dreyfus training complex, the club treated the media to a peculiar sequence of events that lasted nearly an hour.

The parade began with a showreel video that displayed Payet's greatest goals in the colours of Marseille and France.

Then entered the club president Jacques-Henri Eyraud and sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta. 

There followed a Powerpoint presentation that felt more akin to a sixth form school project than than the glitz and glamour that would surround a millionaire superstar. 

Marseille would have liked to have done something to match Zlatan Ibrahimovic's presentation at the Champs-Elysee in Paris but Payet did not want the hoo-hah. Instead it would be back home, back in the cramped press room on the outskirts of the city.

Eyraud had split one of his slides into four sections: 'adhesion' (support), 'coherence' (consistency), 'besoin' (necessity) and 'discipline' (discipline).

All references to Payet are being airbrushed from the exterior of the London Stadium

Payet's acrimonious departure has upset West Ham though he praised the Hammers fans

The praise for Payet's discipline did provoke smirks around the room but on and on it went. Without any tinge of irony, Marseille lauded Payet's loyalty.

The love-in was ceaseless. Payet, Zubizarreta gushed, is Marseille through and through. 'He even knows the traffic routes,' the sporting director grinned. 

Payet was praised as a 'man of strong principle', a man who made financial sacrifices, taking a pay-cut to rejoin the club - but he still became the most highly paid player in the history of Marseille.

Payet himself was calm and measured in front of the press. To his credit, he did not shirk the questions from Sportsmail about his conduct at West Ham, taking the opportunity to praise the fans and also insist that there is another side to the story.

'I do not need to justify my behaviour. I know what was said with Slaven Bilic. I will talk about this one day but for today, I just want to enjoy this moment.'

Marseille are aware Payet has work to do to return to his best. L'Equipe admitted on Tuesday he has a 'few kilos to shed' and intensive training to follow after a broken schedule at West Ham over the past month.

Still, the expectation is huge and with Marseille in sixth place and four points behind a European finish, Payet's responsibilities are significant. 

On Tuesday night against Lyon in the French Cup, the challenge begins.

Fans get Payet off their backs

West Ham fans who bought shirts bearing Payet's name under the assumption he'd stay put after he signed a new contract until 2021 have complained that their £60 purchases are now redundant.

However, club CEO Karren Brady has moved to try and appease fans by today offering an exchange at club shops.

She tweeted in response to one fan who had complained about his Payet shirt: 'Morning, bring back your Payet shirt to any of the club shops & you will get a new replacement for £25, full details on WHU web site today.'

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