Manchester City and Pep Guardiola have shown ‘strong‘ interest in West Ham’s Lucas Paqueta this summer. The Brazillian midfielder emerged as a top target for City due to his great attacking ability. Man City have already contacted West Ham and Paqueta for a potential move.
City’s push to sign Paqueta has intensified after the injury of Kevin De Bruyne. The Man City skipper came off in the first half of City’s opening match of the season against Burnley. De Bruyne had picked up an injury in the Champions League Final on 14th June and was struggling with his fitness due to it. In Friday’s clash, the same injury came back and haunted De Bruyne, as he forced to leave the pitch early. As confirmed by City, Kevin De Bruyne will be out for atleast 4 months.
It was De Bruyne’s injury concern that led City to start looking for an attacking midfielder this summer. They identified Paqueta as a suitable player for them in Kevin’s role. Paqueta signed for West Ham in 2022, having a great season. His performance for his national team Brazil at the 2022 World Cup was also quite impressive. Being a quality attacking midfielder, Paqueta is a great playmaker and also a good goal scorer as well. His dribbling skills are also very strong, making him a great ball-carrier. In general, Paqueta possesses similar attributes as a midfielder to Kevin De Bruyne. This is the main reason why City are strongly looking to bring him in, as Pep feels he is the right choice to fill in for KDB.
“City are preparing a new bid for Lucas Paqueta” – Fabrizio Romano
Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano has mentioned in his recent tweet that City are preparing a new, improved offer for Paqueta. Having signed him in 2022 only, West Ham will not let go of Paqueta that easily. Romano also informed that West Ham have already rejected City’s first bid, worth £70million.
Man City have already agreed personal terms with Paqueta, making their intentions about the player very clear. Paqueta is also reportedly, looking forward to join Manchester City and play under Pep Guardiola. A bid close to £100million is reported to be West Ham’s demand for their star midfielder.
West Ham have already seen Declan Rice and Gianluca Scamacca leave the club this summer. This had led to a major loss of quality in the West Ham squad. Even though The Hammers have received a great amount of money in exchange of these players, signing new players has been quite difficult for them. Plus with the skill-set of Paqueta, it will be a very difficult task to try and replace him. Therefore, with the risk of losing another great player, without being able to sign a good replacement, it can be expected that West Ham might not agree to sell Paqueta this summer, despite any amount that Manchester City might offer.
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