Lucas Paqueta to undergo West Ham United medical today as yet more signings on the cards
Lyon attacker Lucas Paqueta is due to undergo a medical at West Ham on Sunday before completing a club-record £50.8million transfer, according to the Mail On Sunday.
The newspaper reported via their print edition on 28 August (page 143) that the Irons have already spent over £110million on new signings this summer but David Moyes’ spending is “not finished”.
It is understood that he still wants to sign Club Brugge captain Hans Vanaken, having offered £10million for the Belgium attacking midfielder while Arsenal’s Ainsley Maitland-Niles is also on the radar.
Paqueta, 25, is said to be signing a five-year deal at the London Stadium and was due to fly into the UK on Saturday evening (27 August) after West Ham agreed a £36.4million, plus £14.4million in add-ons, transfer fee with Lyon.
Don’t go to bed yet
West Ham’s transfer business is only just starting, by the looks of things.
Signing Paqueta for what could end up being a club-record transfer is a big statement signing by the Hammers, who haven’t spared any funds this summer in adding to their squad.
Daniel Kretinsky’s involvement on the board may be helping this transfer splurge but so far, from what we’ve seen in the Premier League, Moyes hasn’t been able to piece together the puzzle to get the ball rolling.
Hopefully that’ll change against Aston Villa on Sunday and we can finally see some points getting onto the board.
But while it’s been a rather frantic transfer window, it’s been anything but that in the Premier League for Moyes.
With the Scot getting so much financial backing from the board, you get the feeling that he might start to feel a bit of pressure way sooner than he would have done if not as much money was spent.
Sure, Moyes has done a superb job in his second spell as West Ham manager by taking us to Europe in back-to-back seasons and even challenging for the top-four.
However, we know that this board can be a brutal one and they won’t be scared to drop the axe should things fail to improve in the Premier League.
Paqueta’s addition should help stop that happening but a £50million deal does have his caveats.
Moyes is an experienced boss though and surely he’ll know that.