CandH Exclusive by Hughie Southon
Hopes are rising that Lucas Paqueta could make his Hammers debut sooner than the club had expected.
They were initially doubtful that they could get him a work permit and registered for the club in time for him to appear in either of the games against Spurs or Chelsea this week.
They had experienced getting slots for clearance over the next few days but we understand that has now been fixed and that his registration could go through possibly in time.
Our source at the London Stadium explained to us exclusively that they have now managed to get a slot and that there is now a possibility the £52 million signing could be involved sooner than had been expected initially.
There can of course be no guarantees but the club are moving as quickly as possible and we were told: “We found a last minute slot in London today, so the race is on. You also never know how long international clearance takes.”
Great stuff if he does manage to get registered on time.
But I do hope that he is given time by everyone to bed into this team and that too much isn’t expected of him too soon. When playing at the top of his game, he is usually surrounded by players on the same wavelength as him, this all takes time and understanding amongst his new teammates.