West Ham United co-chairman David Sullivan has spoken glowingly about Dimitri Payet's new deal with the club.

On Thursday, the star Frenchman signed a five-year deal that will keep him with the Hammers until 2021 and Sullivan revelled in the fact that the club was able to reward a player so handsomely as they embark on an historic move away from Upton Park this summer.

"It goes without saying that I, David Gold, Karren Brady and everyone associated with West Ham United are delighted that Dimitri Payet has signed a new long-term contract," wrote Sullivan in a post on the club's official website.

"In line with our normal policy, we review the contracts of players who are doing exceptionally well for the Club and reward and extend them when the opportunity arises.

"Up to now, Dimitri has been our star player this season and to reward him and to show the supporters our unwavering commitment to building a team we can all be immensely proud of, the Board has awarded him and improved and extended contract until 2021.

"Like you all, I have been so excited by watching 'Dimi', as he is now affectionately known to all of us Hammers, this season.

"Of course, even more exciting is that Dimi's best in a West Ham shirt is still to come. Just imagine what we can achieve, with him in the team and the Club moving into a fantastic new 54,000-capacity Stadium in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park this summer.

"Before then, we have 13 Barclays Premier League games to play and are in a good position, sixth in the table and with a chance of qualifying for Europe.

"Today's news means Mark Noble, Winston Reid, Diafra Sakho, Aaron Cresswell, James Tomkins, Adrian, James Collins and now Dimi have all signed new long-term contracts in the past year – all confirmation that we want to keep our best players here for as long as possible."