West Ham’s Lucas Paqueta replacement throws big party as £39m exit fee locked in
Lucas Paqueta appears to be on the verge of leaving West Ham, with a replacement seemingly lined up.
Flamengo are reportedly set to make a new bid for Paqueta, after the 28-year-old has made it clear he wants to return to Brazil this month.
West Ham could receive around £39million for Paqueta, with a fresh report from ESPN Brazil suggesting that the Hammers are willing to sell him at that price.
Paqueta is understood to have been pushing for a move to Flamengo for a number of weeks now, and he hasn’t featured for West Ham since the Hammers’ 2-1 loss to Nottingham Forest on 6 January.
West Ham’s Lucas Paqueta successor celebrates possible London Stadium move
Despite the current predicament they find themselves in, West Ham remain a massive football club, and will still be an attractive proposition for a lot of players.
Paqueta‘s exploits at the London Stadium will have undoubtedly help increase the Hammers’ exposure in South America, and in particular, in his homeland of Brazil.
And that’s where his potential West Ham successor could be arriving from, and even more interestingly, the exact same club Paqueta is bound for: Flamengo.
As per an X post from popular Flamengo social media figure Alexandre Mattos, with the information corroborated by Flamengo reporter Rafael Cotta, Gonzalo Plata has told people close to him he’s on his way to London.
This was reportedly done at a house party the 25-year-old attacker threw over the weekend, in which he is said to have revealed the reason for the gathering was to say farewell.
Cotta has since suggested that he’s heading to London in order to sign for West Ham, with the Hammers seemingly having spotted the opportunity to poach the Flamengo star whilst negotiating Paqueta’s transfer.
Gonzalo Plata’s 2025 season by the numbers
Capable of playing pretty much anywhere across the forward line, Plata would bring a highly versatile presence to West Ham’s forward line.
The 47-cap Ecuador international has been with Flamengo since the summer of 2024, and has previously spent time in Qatar, Spain, Portugal and Ecuador for clubs such as Sporting and Real Valladolid respectively.
As per Sofascore, he’s averaged a 6.90 rating per league game for Flamengo across 28 appearances, but has played just 48 minutes per game in 2025.
He enjoyed an 81 per cent pass success rate, completed 54 per cent of his dribbles and won 45 per cent of his ground duels.
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