West Ham United fight to keep Lucas Paqueta from Manchester City as ‘secret’ contract clause emerges
A “secret” release clause in Lucas Paqueta’s West Ham contract becomes active next summer, according to the Daily Mail.
The newspaper reported on its website Wednesday (9 August) that the buy-out clause worth £85million can be activated in a year’s time, with the Hammers currently “taking a strong stance” in refusing to entertain a £70m move to Manchester City this month.
The Irons are insisting that the Brazilian midfielder, 25, is “not for sale” with the treble winners sniffing around, and West Ham “insiders” are saying City are “nowhere near their valuation” and they don’t want to lose their playmaker ahead of the new season.
David Moyes has already seen Declan Rice leave for Arsenal in a £105m deal and Gianluca Scamacca go to Atalanta after just a year at the London Stadium in a move worth around £27m.
Edson Alvarez is finally set to become the first incoming transfer of the summer, with developments moving fast towards Harry Maguire and James Ward-Prowse joining him, but a Paqueta exit would be a big blow at this stage.
The former Lyon man is the club’s record signing after arriving for £51m last summer [Sky Sports].
Timing
Losing Paqueta on top of Rice this summer wouldn’t have been in the Irons plans in most scenarios but had this pressure from the Etihad arisen at the same time they were in the race to sign the Englishman weeks ago it could potentially have been navigated.
But with West Ham only just finding a way to replace the former captain in the final days before the new season gets under way there is no chance they will want the Brazilian to go now.
The transfer window has proven to be somewhat of a nightmare since the Rice deal was sealed, with disagreements behind the scenes and little progress in club to club negotiations.
Moyes is going to need to do what he couldn’t do last year and get off to a decent start in the league while integrating late arrivals.
Cramming all of his incoming business into the final month of the window is clearly not the best way of going about things, but that is the only way the club are going to get it done now.
The developments on Alvarez, Maguire and Ward-Prowse are belatedly getting things moving but the new concern with Paqueta is threatening to throw a whole new spanner into the works.
In other West Ham news, another key man is pushing to leave in the closing weeks of the window with no shortage of options for a move.