You really do have to give enormous credit to the bouncebackability of West Ham midfielder Lucas Paquetá.
The Brazilian playmaker faces the unenviable prospect of an FA hearing commencing in two weeks, fully aware that the prosecutors are seeking a lifetime ban.
Lesser mortals would have shrunk and withered into obscurity—but not Paquetá, who has stated that he is not even contemplating a lifetime out of the game. Fair play.
Instead, West Ham’s record signing has been working overtime in the gym and at Rush Green to get fit enough to play against Newcastle on Monday. He is completely ahead of schedule following an injury that kept him out of the club’s back-to-back wins against Arsenal and Leicester City, and he is desperate to feature against Newcastle.
His big mate in football is Bruno Guimarães, and it’s always a feisty encounter when the pair face off. That’s just one of the many reasons I expect Graham Potter to put the Paq-Man straight back into the starting line-up against Eddie Howe’s Toon team—although I’m not sure who’ll get dropped.
And that, in itself, is testament to the mental fortitude Paquetá has displayed over the past 18 months while being at the centre of two separate investigations.
His form since Potter took over at West Ham has been his best for some time, and credit must go to the new gaffer for putting an arm around his most gifted player. For that reason, I won’t be at all surprised if Paquetá emerges from West Ham vs Newcastle having played a crucial role—hopefully in an epic win
Thinks he will play JWP and Soucek with Paqueta behind the front 2 of Kudus and Bowen