The Brazilian Hammer was missing from the FA Cup match day squad on Sunday for non-footballing reasons.
Lucas Paqueta is trying to force his way of West Ham by withdrawing his playing services it has been alleged this afternoon.
It has been widely reported that the player has agreed personal terms with his former club Flamengo who are reported to have approached West Ham with a €40m (£35m) enquiry.
In response to today’s reports a well place club source told Claret and Hugh “He’s trying to force his way out by refusing the play”
Paqueta was signed from Lyon in 2022 for €61.630 million (£53.4m, including €18.680 (£16.2 million) in bonuses spread over the player’s 5-year contract and plus an additional 10% sell-on fee.
The initial transfer fee paid to the French club equated to £37.2m so whichever way you look at it he would sell at a loss at the £35m meaning the sell on fee will not be activated.
West Ham have already written off £42.7m leaving up to £10.7m remaining on the books but that will come as little comfort to the club or supporters.
What is the point of having a contract with a player if they can refuse to play and still get paid? It should be written into every contract that if you refuse to play you forfeit your wages. No player would dream of holding their club to ransom if it cost them.
Why have release clauses in contracts if you let the player go for less than half the amount in the clause? If the player isn’t worth as much as expected it’s because they haven’t been good enough and they should take some responsibility for that.
Paq is an absolute disgrace after the loyalty we showed him
Paqueta’s infamous red card last year seemed to be a deliberate act to get himself sent off probably to instigate this proposed move . Westham will be well rid of him as he’s only ever a liability now . The shame is that Westham have wasted 8 million a year on wages for 2.5 years and a loss on the transfer again . Sullivan is responsible for countless transfer catastrophes over the last few years that collectively have cost Westham 100’s of millions and now Premier League status .
Headlines read ‘Asking price agreed’.
Looking at responses whu had no idea this news was about to surface.
So who has agreed anything?
Club already in turmoil and this is just adding fuel to the fire.
When was the haggling period with Sullivan at the helm.
Minimum price should be £40m.
Pac-man oiginally said he was staying until end of season.
Get rid of him, he’s nowhere near as good a player as he believes he is and will not help us in the fight ahead. Let’s be honest we had one good season out of him and like Kudos is hugely overrated.
Let him go the sooner the better he has been a liability & hasn’t been his best for a long time,
We get rid of Gillherme Earthy and Paqueta at the point we’re fighting relegation? Let’s hope we’re going to sign an attacking midfielder pretty sharpish then.
Who’s this mystery player “Gillherme Earthy”?
Unfortunately he’s not the player he was for us. He’s lost the ball too easily & layed on the floor feigning injury too many times in the last couple of seasons. He’s is a wonderfully creative player & I thank him for all the skill he has shown us, but I feel it’s time to wish him a fond farewell and good luck back in Brazil. It’d be a different story if he ends up going to Spurs though
Simple. Threaten to bench him for the rest of the season. No world cup for you Lucas
Assuming this is all true its so disappointing, we really really need the best version of Pacqueta giving everything to keep us up until the end of the season at least.
He’s under contact and was completely supported by the club through the betting investigation. Altough we always miss him not playing his lack of consistency is at least part of the reason we’ve struggled.
He was giving the big one about one more season at the start of this and now he’s reneging on that. Players only have one career but will a few months make so much difference to him relative to letting West Ham down so badly?
The money is irrelevant because how would a struggling team like ours get any equivalent player in?
Really bad all round.
Nuno should not be wasting ant time trying to talk him into staying. Get the best we can and move on.