#2 Dimitri Payet (France)
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Plenty of other footballers have gone from zero to hero in the history of the game, and there have been some really impressive cases in recent memory, but there’s little doubt that Dimitri Payet is the best example on show at the Euros this summer.
He has been scoring phenomenal goals for fun for the France national team. It’s hard to know which of his two spectacular goals so far have been the better one – his strike against Romania in the tournament opener or his lovely curled effort from inside the box to steal a win against a stubborn Albania side? Opinion is divided on that front, but what’s a lot clearer is just how world class the West Ham United midfielder has been.
It hasn’t simply been his goals, either, because his overall play has continued to catch the eye in the middle of the park as close control, movement and tremendous energy has complemented that of Paul Pogba, N’Golo Kante and others. Now, France are one of the favourites for the tournament and if Payet can keep churning out net-busting goals, it’s easy to see why they will push for the semi-finals.
It’s going to be difficult for the Hammers to keep hold of the 29-year-old maestro the way he has been playing and with rumours continuing to dominate the back pages about a move to Chelsea, Real Madrid or elsewhere (via Fox Sports) it looks increasingly likely that he will not play at the Olympic Stadium for the 2016/17 campaign. West Ham fans won’t be happy seeing him leave, but if it means more goals on the big stage like the ones he has already scored in France, the rest of us will be rubbing our hands in glee.
