West Ham United ace Dimitri Payet: 'Joe Cole told me to join Hammers'

In-form West Ham United star Dimitri Payet has revealed that it was former Lille teammate Joe Cole who recommended a move to East London.

The 28-year-old has been an instant hit with the Hammers following a £10m summer move from Marseille, scoring five goals and setting up three in his first nine Premier League games.

Payet and Cole - on loan from Liverpool at the time - shared a dressing room at Stade Pierre-Mauroy in the 2011-12 season, and the Frenchman says that the Irons' academy graduate talked up his former club.

"I knew from Joe Cole that this was a special club and had a way of playing," he is quoted as saying by The Mirror. "From the first match, I quickly understood that the fans really like that and I was going to like it here."

Slaven Bilic's side sit fourth in the table, four points behind leaders Manchester City.