Diego Poyet was offered a loan move to Standard Liege, one of Roland Duchatelet’s former network clubs, before leaving the Valley in 2014.

Poyet, a product of Charlton’s renowned academy, joined West Ham on a free transfer after failing to agree new terms with the Addicks.

The midfielder, who now plays for Cypriot club Paphos, helped Charlton to Championship survival in his breakthrough season - and was not happy with the offer made by Addicks owner Duchatelet to extend his stay in SE7.

“After about three or four weeks they contacted me and I wasn't really pleased with the offer they gave me,” Poyet, 23, said.

“I'd been at the club six or seven years and had a close relationship with a lot of the players and the offer made me feel underappreciated, considering how long I'd been at the club and I'd just won player of the year.

“There was a discussion where they weren't going to make another offer. I was a free agent and I told them to forget about it and I wasn't going to turn up to pre-season, I was going to look for another option.

“That is how I ended up leaving a club that I had a lot of admiration and love for. I spent a lot of time there. It was my hometown as well and I ended up leaving in a way where most people don't know the truth.

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“The contract was offered, I said I wasn't happy with it and then they started throwing in things like a loan move to Standard Liege and this and that.

“I wondered if they wanted me at Charlton. Why they would offer for me to go out on loan somewhere? It ended in not a nice way but it is what it is and I'm sure it's happened to a lot of players.”

Poyet’s career has nosedived since leaving Charlton - unsuccessful loan spells with Huddersfield, MK Dons and Charlton occurred during his two-year spell at West Ham.

After having his contract mutually terminated in 2016, he moved to Argentinian club Godoy Cruz, where he failed to make a league appearance, before joining Paphos a year later.

“After suffering in Argentina I wanted to go back to what I was used to, being back home with my family and friends,” Poyet told Sky Sports.

“But when I left Argentina, I couldn't find the right place in the UK, people were asking about what happened in Argentina and I hadn't played many games since joining West Ham.

“People were saying ‘he's moving around too much’, so I ended up going up to a new club in Cyprus, who had signed 30-odd players, all from different places.

“I was sat at home in England calling my agent three or four times a day - I must have driven him crazy. It's been better than Argentina, that's for sure.”

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