West Ham United: ‘Big bids’ tipped for Lucas Paqueta in January
Ade Oladipo has suggested West Ham must brace for big bids for Lucas Paqueta in January after his Premier League display against Wolves on 17 December.
The talkSPORT journalist insisted the Hammers will struggle to keep hold of him come the summer, but bids for his services may even arrive in January.
Paqueta shone in his performance against Brentford, picking up three assists for Mohammed Kudus’ and Jarrod Bowen’s goals and showing why Manchester City held a strong interest in him during the summer.
Taking to Twitter at half-time of the Premier League clash [17 December], Oladipo wrote: “Paqueta is a wonderful footballer. West Ham are going to find it difficult to keep hold of him past the summer window.
“Maybe even the January window… BIG bids will come in.”
The price of success
For West Ham, the price of having some top flair players in their side who will also regularly produce goals and assists will not only see them fly up the table with some lovely moments, but it’ll attract interest from some of the biggest teams across Europe.
Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing depends on how the club deals with it. Look at Brighton – they’ve sold plenty of top players for big money, but have maintained their success through shrewd investments so there is a replacement for everybody who leaves.
If the transfer team in East London have targets in mind to replace the likes of Paqueta, Kudus and even Jarrod Bowen despite his contract extension, they should be fine with some big-money sales, but if not it will cause problems.
Performances like this one from Paqueta will do no harm to the level of interest in his services, and as Oladipo suggests, the Hammers might have to brace for bids in January, but that might not be the worst scenario in East London.
In other West Ham news, Gabby Agbonlahor sent West Ham a message live on air.