Lucas Paqueta payment latest as Flamengo prepare to approach West Ham

We are eight months on from Lucas Paqueta's West Ham exit.

But, yet his transfer to Flamengo continues to make headlines across the media.

The Hammers reluctantly allowed the Brazilian to leave East London, and managed to bring in £36.5million in the process.

That deal was structured for the Brazilian Serie A side to pay that fee in three separate instalments, with the second of those coming up in the near future.

However, doubts in the South American country have emerged over whether that payment would arrived in the Hammers' bank account.

With a new update on the eight-time top-flight champions' next steps now emerging out of Brazil.

Will Flamengo be able to pay West Ham for Lucas Paqueta?

West Ham's chances of payment from Flamengo are beginning to look slimmer as the days pass.

Brazil's government have banned gambling and betting sponsorships, with Flamengo losing out on tens of millions of pounds in the process.

The president of the Brazilian club, Luiz Eduardo Baptista, has admitted that he questioned how he would be able to pay the next instalment of Paqueta's transfer to West Ham due to the situation around the ban.

Now, things are reaching a breaking point, with reports from Extra in Brazil sharing that Baptista is "not hiding the seriousness" of the issue.

And they report that Flamengo are now preparing to approach West Ham to inform them that they are unable to meet the payment for Paqueta's second instalment.

For the Hammers it is certainly not an ideal situation, as that money may have potentially been useful in the winter window should the West Ham squad require additions.

Are there any precedents set if Flamengo fail to pay West Ham?

West Ham may not have much room to argue as they were also on Flamengo's side of the table when it came to the signing of Sebastien Haller.

In 2020, West Ham failed to make a £5.4m payment to Eintracht Frankfurt as per The Guardian.

On this occasion, the failure to pay was not related to financial issues at London Stadium, but rather a "commercially confidential issue" between both parties.

Either way, FIFA rules do state that delayed payments past the 30-day mark could result in a warning, a fine or potentially a transfer ban for any upcoming windows.

Flamengo will want to avoid those possible sanctions, but things do not look great at the moment.