West Ham United set to face ‘absolute disaster’ over Lucas Paqueta, Hammers to struggle
Dan Bardell believes West Ham United will struggle to react if the FA bans Lucas Paqueta for life after charging him with betting breaches.
In late May, the Football Association revealed that they had charged the Brazilian with four breaches of their rules.
The Sun has since reported (3 June) that the organisation want the Hammers star to be “banned for life” if he is found guilty of his charges.
Sky Sports and talkSPORT journalist Bardell has suggested that his club would struggle to deal with the loss if they lost Paqueta this year.
Speaking exclusively to West Ham Zone, Bardell said: “It would be unprecedented. It would be something that West Ham would struggle to react to as there’s no history of it.
“The closest we’ve seen is Sandro Tonali at Newcastle.
“It would be an absolute disaster for West Ham with him being their most talented player and someone who they can extract a good transfer fee for.
“He’s one of West Ham’s biggest assets so if he was to be banned I don’t really know what they would do I’m sure it’s something the club are aware of and worried about but surely a lifetime ban can’t happen.“
Lucas Paqueta could receive West Ham lifetime ban
The Brazilian is up there with Jarrod Bowen and Mohammed Kudus as some of the Hammers’ best and most important players.
There was also a chance that Paqueta was going to be a makeweight this summer to allow Julen Lopetegui to bring new players in.
This saw Manchester City lining up a bid worth, his release clause, £85m [The Athletic] which would have certainly helped West Ham financially in the market.
Now that move is certainly off the table with Pep Guardiola unwilling to get involved with the controversy surrounding the Brazilian.
It is a very frustrating situation, especially for Lopetegui coming into the club and already being forced to be without one of his best players.
Paqueta is still featuring regularly for Brazil so there is no reason why he shouldn’t be playing at the London Stadium until a punishment is named.
The whole thing is a mess and something that needs to be resolved as soon as possible for all parties’ sake.
In other West Ham news, a development has emerged in the Hammers’ pursuit of Tammy Abraham.
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