Man City intend to gut Premier League rival by signing £85m-rated superstar in 2024
Manchester City still intend to sign West Ham United ace Lucas Paqueta, and when they’ll reignite their aborted move has been revealed in a report.
An £80m transfer was agreed in principle between West Ham and Man City regarding Paqueta over the summer. The 26-year-old was a £51m signing from Lyon 12 months prior, and on the back of a stellar first campaign in England, was primed to make West Ham £29m in profit.
However, the move fell through once Paqueta became embroiled in a betting investigation by the FA.
The probe related to three incidents in which Paqueta received yellow cards. Per Sky Sports, ‘a larger than usual number of bets were placed in Brazil’ on Paqueta receiving a booking in one instance.
With the transfer put on ice, Man City turned their attention to alternatives and explored moves for Eberechi Eze and Matheus Nunes. Pep Guardiola’s side would go on to sign the latter when striking a £53m agreement with Wolves.
However, according to online outlet Football Transfers, Man City fully intend to go back in for Paqueta and complete their unfinished business.
The report adds City are expected to ‘make another approach’ for Paqueta once the FA’s investigation has concluded. The probe is still ongoing, though City hope it’ll be wrapped up in time to pave the way for a transfer in 2024.
West Ham position weakened by release clause
City could look to strike the same £80m deal they agreed in principle the first time around.
Alternatively, Fabrizio Romano confirmed Paqueta’s contract contains a release clause worth the slightly higher sum of £85m that becomes active from June 2024.
TEAMtalk exclusively revealed West Ham hope to adjust or even remove the clause entirely by way of negotiating a new contract with Paqueta. The Brazilian would be in line to earn £200,000-a-week if he puts pen to paper.
However, doing so would lessen his chances of securing the move to Man City and various reports have claimed he was high on the idea of moving to the treble winners in the off-season.
The prospect of losing Paqueta is not one that is likely to be greeted warmly by Hammers boss David Moyes, even though they’ll collect a huge fee.
Paqueta can stake a genuine claim to being West Ham’s best player since Declan Rice’s departure to Arsenal.
He’s amassed 42 caps for Brazil and started four of their five matches during the World Cup in Qatar.
Bruno Guimaraes has since emerged as Casemiro’s regular partner in central midfield. Nonetheless, Paqueta remains an influential player for both club and country and his exit would be a bitter pill to swallow for West Ham.
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