West Ham’s summer could have been far more bruising than it turned out. Bad enough selling Mohammed Kudus to arch rivals Tottenham: Reports now abound concerning Hammers’ star man Lucas Paquetá’s possible summer exit falling through – Thomas Frank apparently having ambition to attract the Brazilian after his arrival at Spurs.
Can’t help thinking there would have been uproar at West Ham if a second of the club’s “Crown Jewels” had trodden the same path as Kudus.
But this morning, no lesser source than Fabrizio Romano is quoted as claiming that Lucas Paquetá would have left West Ham late in the window were it not for one thing: Londonworld.com’s article quotes the In The Know journalist as saying:
“I can guarantee to you that if there wasn’t social media, Lucas Paqueta was an Aston Villa player now. Now, he’s at West Ham because the deal collapsed, because of the leaks, too early or maybe at a crucial stage of the negotiation and making people upset at West Ham. This can happen.”
Quite who were the ‘people’ that were upset at West Ham is not clear – but the inference in their article is that a deal was, certainly advancing for a loan with obligation which would have taken the Brazilian away from West Ham for good:
“The proposed move came about in the final days of the window, with Villa proposing a loan move with an obligation to buy, a format that is becoming more and more common due to spending rules. That deal was said to be worth £50million with Everton and Tottenham also reportedly showing interest.”
So whilst Paq-man’s much publicised ‘one more year’ social media post last night has been met with dismay from many Hammers fans who don’t want to lose the Brazilian next summer, it could clearly have been a lot worse.
For whatever reason, West Ham fans now have a chance to see Paquetá strutting in all his pomp for one more season – at least – whilst his standing and presumably his transfer value rises at the same time.
I think we have to take Paquetá at his word, he wants to repay the club and fans for sticking by him. If he starts orchestrating things on the pitch it could spark a bidding war which could result favourably for us, we need to identify more young talent in the meantime to replace him. Finding young playmakers with the right blend of skills isn’t easy. Let’s see what the season holds and most importantly let’s try and get our level up and some points on the board, what happens with Paqueta is mostly out of our hands.
Would have been uproar at West Ham ?
There’s uproar already and a lot of fans including myself have had enough of this
“two Bob” football club.
Pathetic from top to bottom…
Sounds like the bloke is trying to save face. If social media leaks stopped transfers there wouldn’t be any transfers. What advantage would we have in loaning him to Villa and I would expect his ambitions would be to go to one of the top six.
Hilariously ironic statement from someone with no comprehension of introspection.
This is a self-appointed transfer guru, whose crown appeared to be a tad wobbly during the ridiculousness of the transfer windows, which are significantly more enjoyable if ignored completely.
I get that media outlets, including this site, have ‘column inches’ to fill in the downtime and the masses appear to enjoy the feeding frenzy of ITKs with ‘secret sources’ spilling the beans. I guess there must have been in excess of 100 players names, from the sublime to the ridiculous, appearing on this and other sites over the summer, thankfully I don’t know.
Romano appears to be biting the very hand that feeds him, maybe through a combination of embarrassment and/ or bitterness. The reality appears to be that new kids on the block have materialised, fulfilling the same role as him. I would personally be staggered if the completion of a multimillion pound transaction were found to be dependant upon the reaction of a tiny section of social media. It doesn’t add up whatsoever.
Pull the other one Fabrizio!
… or Newcastle ( best buddy Bruno Guimarães is there)