West Ham United: Report shares Manchester City transfer stance on Lucas Paqueta
Manchester City are unlikely to revive their interest in West Ham ace Lucas Paqueta any time soon, according to Sean Whetstone.
Brazilian outlet UOL reported on Saturday (11 November) that City want to renegotiate a deal with United for Paqueta, having missed out on the 26-year-old in the summer window.
However, in an update on 6foot2 on Tuesday (14 November), editor Whetstone insisted that is not the case as things stand.
“Reports from Brazil that Manchester City could revive interest in Hammer Lucas Paqueta seem to be wide of the mark,” the update read.
“West Ham and the Brazilian Hammer are playing a waiting game and while there has been no updates recently, none are expected this year and the FA investigation is expected to run beyond the January transfer window.
“There is even a chance it could run into and beyond next summer into next season if previous investigations are a benchmark.”
However, the report added: “The only concern from the Hammers and the Brazilian representatives is that the burden of proof is far less than a criminal court and circumstantial evidence could be used against the player unfairly.”
Drag on
The Paqueta to Man City saga rumbled on late into the summer transfer window, and only died down once it emerged Paqueta was being investigated for alleged betting breaches.
That proved a blessing in disguise for the Hammers in many ways, although the Brazil international is of course eager to clear his name and denies all the allegations.
As we have seen with a few examples over the past year or so, these cases can often take an awful long time to conclude. As pointed out in this report, it may even be as long as 18 months before an outcome is reached.
That would go beyond even the 2025 transfer window, and you would expect City to have looked elsewhere by that point should that prove to be the case.
It looks likely that the speculation will not go away, though, and that is a major distraction for both Paqueta and West Ham.
However, if this latest update is anything to go by – and it is from a trusted source, after all – then United can rest easily knowing no fresh bids are due to be lodged in the near future.
In other West Ham news, the Hammers have tied down a “natural finisher” to a new contract.