Paqueta – to leave?
Former Hammer Frank McAvennie has issues dome very worrying news about Lucas Paqueta.
He believes that he would be open to leaving West Ham for Newcastle or Paris Saint-Germain because he doesn’t like David Moyes’ style of football.
Paqueta was a key player for the Irons as they won their first trophy in over 40 years to claim the Europa Conference League, following his club-record signing from Lyon last summer.
But both Newcastle and PSG have now linked with the possibility of taking him to the Champions League for the new season, and McAvennie has admitted he worries the player could look to move on because of the manager’s style of play.
He told West Ham Zone: “I hope not, he’s just coming into his own.
“Some of the times he’d come off and he’s got a face like you know what, you can’t read him. Other times he’ll be enjoying it.
“There’s a couple of Brazilians in the Newcastle team and I think he’d enjoy it there because they play football he wants to play. They play the kind of football West Ham used to play.
“You can’t argue with Moyes though. He had a bad season but he’s got them into Europe three times in a row. That’s what has given David the grace.
“It’s a long hard season to watch, with some of the football they were playing.
“I would think if an offer came onto the table and they said to Paqueta you can go then I think he’d go to Newcastle because they’re on the way up. They’re going to go and win things, definitely. That’s for sure. Howe plays the football he wants to play.
“I’m delighted we’ve got Paqueta but I don’t think he likes our kind of football.”
Pretty damning stuff if it is true and sadly a scenario which has been half confirmed by Claret and Hugh sources after we revealed that he had recently changed his agents.
There is always a reason for doing that as may turn out to be the case with Gianluca Scamacca, who did the same, and has been linked with a move ever since.
One source sold us that Paqueta had indeed become a little disenchanted with the Moyes brand of football and that a move from PSG could well be on the cards.
However, given the length of his contract it would be for a VERY big fee were it to happen