According to journalist Julien Laurens, Manchester City are poised to reach an agreement with West Ham United to buy Lucas Paqueta.
After the Hammers rejected an earlier verbal offer of £70 million for the midfielder, the Manchester club reportedly had another deal worth £87 million rejected and were told they would have to spend £95 million to secure him.However, one journalist has given his thoughts on this specific transfer story and his prediction for the final outcome.
Laurens had this to say regarding Paqueta and City’s pursuit of him in a recent video on the ESPN UK YouTube channel.”Lots of money for Paqueta, of course,” he remarked, referring to the second offer, which was rejected by West Ham.I believe they will reach an agreement, and you can understand why Paqueta wants to go to City.I think if City sign him, it’s game over for this season.” I believe he will be an amazing signing for them because he will fit in so well and they will be so supportive of him.I remember saying it when West Ham signed him; it was an incredible coup from them, to be honest, but West Ham was always just the step up and the platform to then go to one of the biggest clubs, especially in England, and I believe this is what happens.
West Ham haven’t even seen the best of Lucas Paqueta because of how they played last season, which was not focused on and around him. But City will receive a wonderful talent who Pep can use pretty much everywhere in the midfield and who can maybe even play higher up the pitch.”Yeah, they’ll have to spend £100 million again after [Jack] Grealish, after [Josko] Gvardiol, it’s another £100 million player, but I think he’s well worth it.”
After joining the London Stadium in a £51 million transfer last summer, the 25-year-old went on to score five goals and provide seven assists in 39 Premier League and Europa League outings.
Paqueta finished the season with more effective tackles (53) than any other West Ham player, as well as the greatest rate of goal-creating actions per 90 minutes (0.5).This demonstrates why the east London club is making it difficult for City to sign the midfielder.However, with City making two very big offers for the Brazil international, this shows how eager the treble winners are to add Paqueta to Pep Guardiola’s squad.Moving forward, if the European champions feel that West Ham’s price tag is a fair one, it feels that, as Laurens said, this is a deal that will get completed before the transfer window closes.
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