‘Lucas Paqueta would be Aston Villa player now’ if it wasn’t for one thing that upset West Ham
Lucas Paqueta was the story of the summer at West Ham United.
After the FA cleared Paqueta of any wrongdoing in his alleged betting offences hearing, transfer speculation took centre stage again at the London Stadium.
Aston Villa made a late move to sign Paqueta, with Unai Emery eventually bringing in Harvey Elliott and Jaden Sancho on deadline day, instead.
Paqueta appeared to hit back at those transfer rumours in his celebration at Nottingham Forest, but Fabrizio Romano has doubled down on a possible move to Villa.
Lucas Paqueta was basically an Aston Villa player
Paqueta may have batted away all speculation, but Romano insists that if it wasn’t for social media, the Brazilian would be wearing a different claret.
Speaking on It’s Called Soccer, as shared via Instagram, the Italian journalist admitted that West Ham were upset by early leaks surrounding Paqueta before anything was possibly made concrete.
“I can guarantee to you that if there wasn’t social media, Lucas Paqueta was an Aston Villa player now,” he said.
“Now, he’s at West Ham because the deal collapsed, because of the leaks, too early or maybe at a crucial stage of the negotiation and making people upset at West Ham.
“This can happen.”
Fabrizio Romano is the problem
To publicly state that social media is the problem seems very rich coming from the very guy who breaks any and every transfer rumour on the planet.
Sometimes to uncomfortable levels too, with some obsession over certain deals.
Paqueta never appeared to be too advanced in a move to join Aston Villa, so to say it was almost 100 per cent complete feels strange.
Thankfully, for West Ham and Graham Potter, the Brazilian went nowhere and has already scored three goals in his four appearances this season.
With West Ham’s signing of Mateus Fernandes in midfield behind him, it could unleash the South American back to his very best levels at the London Stadium again.
As for Aston Villa and Emery, they will have to wait to watch him twice, home and away in the Premier League, rather than every single week.
Paqueta will instead be focusing on the huge London derby with Tottenham next up, with another three points desperately wanted by the Irons.
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