Lucas Paqueta forced those expecting a deadline day departure from West Ham United into backtracking when he slammed down the phone on Aston Villa.
Not literally, of course. Well, presumably not, anyway.
But actions speak louder than words, as they say. And as Lucas Paqueta tossed an imaginary phone aside after scoring a penalty during West Ham United’s 3-0 beating of Nottingham Forest at the end of August, all the speculation regarding what was supposedly an imminent switch to Villa Park ground to a very speedy halt.
Nearly two months later, however, the rumours are ramping up again.
And though club insider Sean Whetstone insists that Paqueta will not be returning to Brazil with Flamengo – ‘you might as well say Erling Haaland is going to West Ham on loan’ – it is understood that there is a particular fee which could really test the Londoners’ resolve.
West Ham United set Lucas Paqueta price-tag ahead of January transfer window
Hammers News’ chief football correspondent Graeme Bailey has heard that West Ham and Paqueta are largely on the same page. The club would rather not sell, and the player would rather not leave. Not in mid-season, anyway.
But should an offer arrive which enables West Ham to almost double the fee they paid Lyon back in 2022, that stance may soften.
“West Ham have issues in terms of having to raise funds to buy, so that does mean that inevitably the big names and most sellable assets are going to be linked,” Bailey says after a summer in which those very same financial problems forced the club to accept a £54.5 million bid from arch rivals Tottenham Hotspur for Mohammed Kudus.
“Paqueta is not looking to leave and West Ham not looking to sell.
“But if someone comes in with this asking price, which is around £60 million I am told, then, yeah, he could go.”
Aston Villa’s Paqueta bid was ‘not close’ to Hammers’ demands
Clubs willing to stump up £60 million are likely to be few and far between, though, especially during the January window.
Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City remain big admirers of the former AC Milan playmaker, but they are yet to follow up the reported £80 million bid they made a couple of summers ago. The FA cost West Ham an £80 million windfall while opening up an investigation into alleged spot-fixing charges.
Bailey previously revealed, meanwhile, that the offer put forward by Aston Villa was comfortably short of West Ham’s demands.
“I am told that whilst considering the deal, David Sullivan never agreed to let him leave. And even if he had, Villa’s offer was not close to the amount it would have taken to move him,” Bailey told Hammers News in September.
“Indeed, [that Aston Villa bid] was some way off.
“Paqueta was open to the deal, let’s not deny that, but that’s the same with just about every West Ham player this summer.”
Brazil teammate Bruno Guimaraes opens up on how Paqueta is feeling
With three goals in eight appearances for West Ham this season, Paqueta is already two away from matching his tally from the whole of 2024/25.
Close friend and Brazil teammate Bruno Guimaraes believes Paqueta is a man revitalised after the two-year spot-fixing trial which threatened to pull the plug on his entire career finally came to an end.
“It was a difficult time for him, but we always tried to be by his side,” Guimaraes, the Newcastle captain who played alongside the Selecao schemer in France with Olympique Lyonnais, told ESPN.
“There were many long exchanges of tears, agony, but also great happiness as the hearings progressed and he won. It further strengthened our friendship.
“He now looks like the Paqueta I knew from Flamengo and Lyon [who he left for West Ham three years ago]. A happy, cheerful, and content kid, always laughing and joking.
“He started the season on the right foot, despite being left-handed, scoring a lot of goals. If I were him, I wouldn’t be able to go through what he went through, the anguish of not knowing what will happen next. Your career being in the hands of others, it’s something you can’t control.
“Now, he’s happy and has that smile of gratitude on his face.”
