Kieran Maguire ‘uncomfortable’ with accusations aimed at West Ham United ace Lucas Paqueta
Kieran Maguire has admitted he has been left “uncomfortable” by the recent gambling accusations aimed at West Ham midfielder Lucas Paqueta.
Speaking on The Price of Football podcast on 24 August, the football finance expert said there are no claims that the Brazilian international has bet on the sport himself, which makes it a different case to Brentford forward Ivan Toney after he was banned for eight months on 18 May [Sky Sports].
But with the 25-year-old Paqueta being alleged to have broken the FA’s gambling rules, Maguire added that there will be a “feeling of unease” if the allegations are proven to be true.
“There is no accusation with regards to the player betting on himself or on football, so we’re in a different position to Ivan Toney,” he said. “But there’s a feeling of unease if this is proven to be true.
“The gambling companies have got huge access to data and their algorithms saw a spike in adverts for him to have a yellow card I think in a few matches, including the first match of the season.
“So that is something that does make you feel slightly uncomfortable because, for all of the wrongs in football, we still hold on to that genuine belief that every time a match starts – for the next 90 minutes – the players may cheat and fake injuries, but everybody is out there to win.
“As soon as that contract between us as fans as lovers of the game and the people on the pitch gets called into question, some of what is remaining in the romance of football I think starts to disappear as well. We wait to see what is going to happen.”
Tricky
This is an extremely tricky situation for all those involved as the ramifications will be severe for Paqueta if he is proven guilty by the FA.
West Ham insider Sean Whetstone, who is the editor of the 6foot2 website, tweeted on 21 August that the governing body failed to provide any evidence of any wrongdoing in advance to the Brazilian and his legal team ahead of the hearing that was due to take place on Monday (21 August).
He said it has now been delayed for up to three weeks as the midfielder’s lawyers are insisting that they receive evidence before taking part in a hearing.
Paqueta is believed to have been happy to take part in the hearing as he believes he is innocent, but as Maguire alluded to, it would be an uncomfortable situation if he were found guilty.
While the player is innocent until proven guilty, these cases don’t just come out of nowhere without any evidence so, hopefully, he can manage to prove he hasn’t done anything wrong in this instance and can continue playing for us in the Premier League this season.
In other West Ham news, the Hammers are closing in on a new signing after a breakthrough has been made.