Manchester City twist could change West Ham United transfer strategy
Manchester City have moved away from signing West Ham midfielder Lucas Paqueta this summer, with Crystal Palace’s Eberechi Eze now of interest, according to the Daily Mail.
The newspaper reported on its website on Wednesday (23 August) that Pep Guardiola’s side had switched their attention to the Palace midfielder after dropping their interest in Paqueta because of concerns over the midfielder’s betting allegations.
Paqueta had been ready to depart the London Stadium for a fee in the region of £85m and now that the Irons won’t be receiving such a substantial fee, they could well be set to change their transfer strategy this summer.
The Hammers are currently in the market for a new attacking midfielder with Ajax’s Mohammed Kudus, with a second bid rejected by the Dutch club on Tuesday (Fabrizio Romano, 22 August) and the Irons now need to decide if they want to continue negotiations.
Kudus and Paqueta are very different styles of player, with the Ajax man being much more of a goal scorer than the Brazilian, but if West Ham are now likely to keep their man past the transfer deadline, they may not want to overspend on Kudus.
Money isn’t much of an issue to David Moyes’ side this summer, with plenty of funds already raised via the sale of Declan Rice and Gianluca Scamacca, but throughout the window so far the Irons have refused to budge in several negotiations.
Kudus found the net 11 times in the Eredivisie last year and on a further four occasions in the Champions League, and if he was able to transform this form into the Premier League, there would be no doubt that West Ham should secure him this summer.
With Moyes’ side not having a consistent source of goals from their current striking options, the addition of the Ghana international would at least give them another outlet from attacking midfield. There is an argument, however, that if goals are required, a substantial fee would be better spent on a striker this summer.
The Independent (10 August) had reported that the Irons were interested in Arsenal forward Folarin Balogun, with Arsenal requesting £40m for the striker this summer and a move for the centre-forward may make more sense.
Paqueta could need replacing
The caveat to everything written above is whether or not Paqueta will remain available at the London Stadium this season, as there must be some fear over what charges he could face for Man City to pull out of the move.
At the moment it remains unclear what if any punishment the Brazilian will face for his alleged betting, with the player still denying any knowledge of any wrongdoing. But only recently we have seen the lengthy ban given to Ivan Toney for breaches of gambling rules.
Even if Paqueta remains at the London Stadium this summer after Manchester City have dropped their interest, the signing of Kudus may act as insurance and an immediate replacement should the Hammers midfielder be ruled out for any extended length of time.
After all West Ham don’t want to leave themselves short of options.
In other West Ham news, one pundit has been left embarrassed by Harry Maguire’s decision to turn down the Irons this summer