page_title: Dimitri Payet
section_title: Olympique de Marseille
hierarchical_section_title: Dimitri Payet / Club career / Olympique de Marseille
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: OM - FC Porto - Valais Cup 2013 - Dimitri Payet
context_page_description: Dimitri Payet is a French professional footballer who plays for Ligue 1 club Olympique de Marseille and the France national team. A set-piece specialist, known for his accurate, bending free kicks, he primarily plays as an attacking midfielder, and is described as a player who is "blessed with terrific technique and dribbling skills".
  Payet was born on the French island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean, where he began his career playing for local clubs Saint-Philippe and Saint-Pierroise. In 1999, he moved to metropolitan France, joining Le Havre. Payet spent four years at the club before returning home to spend two years playing for AS Excelsior in the Réunion Premier League. In 2005, he joined FC Nantes and, after a successful 2006–07 season, joined AS Saint-Étienne on a four-year contract. With Saint-Étienne, Payet played in European competition for the first time after featuring in the 2008–09 edition of the UEFA Europa League. In the 2010–11 season, he won the UNFP Player of the Month award for September after scoring three goals and helping Saint-Étienne reach first place in the league table.
context_section_description: On 27 June 2013, Marseille signed Payet for a fee in the region of €11 million. On his debut, he scored a brace within the first 15 minutes of the game, helping his side to a 3–1 victory over newcomers Guingamp at the Stade du Roudourou on 11 August.
  
  In his second and final season with Marseille, Payet made more successful through-balls than any other player, with the exception of Lionel Messi, in European football's top five leagues.  He made almost twice as many key passes as any other player, and made 17 assists in 36 league appearances, topping the Ligue 1 assist charts. Payet credited his excellent 2014–2015 Marseille season which transformed his career to Marcelo Bielsa, who was appointed the head coach of Marseille on a two-year contract in May 2014. I clicked with him," he later told L'Équipe. "He made me more mature and consistent. He put order into my game. I still have his advice in my head." The key, according to Jan Van Winckel (who was Bielsa’s assistant during the 2014–2015 season), was giving him the pivotal No. 10 role and making him the focal point of attacks. 
  "Bielsa was the first to recognise that Dimitri is a playmaker and not a winger. Dimitri is probably the best player in the world, together with Andrés Iniesta, with his back to the goal. He is so technically gifted and agile that it is almost impossible to get the ball from him. It is no coincidence that Dimi scored against Romania (at the Euro 2016 finals in France) when he was playing in a central role."
  Jan van Winckel
  On 17 May 2015, he was named in the Ligue 1 team of the season by the UNFP for the second time.
caption: Payet playing for Marseille, 2013
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