Manchester City and Chelsea updates emerge as ‘confident’ Lucas Paqueta hit by investigation at West Ham United
Lucas Paqueta is “shocked” but “confident” he is not guilty of any betting breaches after the FA launched an investigation into the West Ham star, according to Alex Crook.
The talkSPORT journalist reported via Twitter Friday evening (18 August) that Manchester City have “adopted a watching brief for now” with regards to their transfer interest in the 25-year-old and Paqueta is still expected to play against Chelsea on Sunday.
The Brazilian international appeared headed for a move to the Etihad until the move broke down on Friday, before the news came out that he was under investigation over potential breaches of betting regulations.
The Hammers face London rivals Chelsea at the London Stadium this weekend, with Paqueta currently available for selection barring any new developments.
Rocked
Well, as fast as positive developments arrive at West Ham at the moment something negative comes along to trample all over them.
The fact that Paqueta appeared not to be destined for Man City any longer looked like a major boost to David Moyes and the Irons squad, with the move for Mohammed Kudus still going ahead anyway.
But if he ends up charged and potentially banned that will ultimately be no benefit at all, although a decision on that could yet be some way off.
Ivan Toney continued to play for Brentford last season long after it emerged he was being investigated along the same lines, although the England forward is currently banned until January [Sky Sports].
Based on that the best guess at West Ham would be for Paqueta to remain at the club and be available for some weeks yet, as it seems unlikely that City would pay huge money for him if there was even the risk of a ban around the corner.
The indications from the player’s camp appear to be that he is pretty sure he will be ok, but how the FA will see things remains to be seen.
In the short term the midfielder looks set to face Chelsea at the weekend, which for now is at least something.
In other West Ham news, the club have almost reached an agreement to sign a new big-money forward for more than £30million.