WEST HAM AGREE TO SELL LUCAS PAQUETA TO FLAMENGO FOR AROUND £40M
West Ham United have verbally agreed to sell Lucas Paquetá and are waiting for a final formal offer.
The club reluctantly accept Paquetá’s desire to join Flamengo immediately having initially proposed he remains on loan with them for the rest of the season rather than return to Brazil.
Paquetá has not featured in West Ham’s last three games – which they have won – as he has sought the move and deals with a minor back problem.
Nuno Espírito Santo, the West Ham manager, made it clear he does not want to lose who he regards as his best player now but it appears he is coming round to the idea.
The improvement in team results and performances together, crucially, with Paquetá’s frame of mind and the insistence he wants to leave have made a deal more probable.
West Ham have already told Paquetá that he can leave at the end of this season and hoped that might persuade him to stay.
The 28-year-old has one more year left on his contract after this campaign but has been pushing to quit England now and return to his homeland.
Flamengo have already had two offers rejected by West Ham who, despite agreeing verbally that a fee has been reached that he can go, remain cautious until they have it in writing.
Flamengo will have to offer more than the €41m (£35.5m) that West Ham rejected – which would be a record for a Brazilian club – while also key will be the payment structure they offer. It is thought Flamengo will have to offer closer to £40m.
Selling Paquetá now will also give West Ham a week, before the transfer window closes next Monday, to consider replacements or improving their squad in other areas.
Nuno is keen to sign a goalkeeper, centre-half and winger. The latter should be Fulham’s Adama Traoré, who he worked with before at Wolverhampton Wanderers, and whose contract ends in June.
Paquetá is desperate to leave England and return to his former club having grown disillusioned after being accused of spot-fixing by the Football Association. He was cleared of the charges by an independent disciplinary commission last year.
Paquetá joined West Ham for an initial £35.6m from French club Lyon in 2022.
Despite beating Sunderland on Saturday, having also defeated Tottenham Hotspur the previous weekend, West Ham are still five points adrift of safety behind 17th placed Nottingham Forest.
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