Paqueta Reportedly Close To Sealing Move Away From West Ham

The 2025/26 Premier League campaign has certainly thrown up some intriguing stories for fans of all shirt colours up and down the country, but whilst the presumed big boys of the league dominate the news headlines with their spending and managerial changes, we also have Aston Villa’s unexpected race for the title. But another side in claret and blue are getting plenty of airtime of their own, and so is Lucas Paqueta.

It has been another woeful season for West Ham United, and their fortunes have not really changed since David Moyes moved on, as neither Julen Lopetegui nor Graham Potter could seemingly get the Hammers firing. There was a small hope that new head coach Nuno Espirito Santo may buck the trend and slowly edge them away from the relegation drop zone, and he has now begun doing that, but for those fans who like a flutter, they may not yet be ready to bank on survival and will likely explore cryptocurrency slot games for a while yet, in the hope that they can show greater consistency in the next few weeks.

The quietly spoken 52 year old Portuguese gaffer has plenty of support at the London Stadium for what he is trying to do, and with the January transfer window open, they have already dipped into making a few deals in an effort to strengthen the squad given Nuno’s preferred style of play. With 23 games played in the top-flight division, they are now in 18th place in the table with 20 points — just five from safety — and fans will be hopeful Nuno can achieve that, given they have just notched up back-to-back wins in the weekend’s clash with Sunderland (three on the spin when the FA Cup third round clash with Queens Park Rangers is included).

Their optimism will, however, be tempered somewhat as earlier rumour mill speculation concerning Lucas Paqueta wanting out again does now appear to be true. Following on from his earlier failed £70-odd million move to Manchester City with the emergence of the Football Association charges that were levelled at him — and then an independent commission clearing him with a determination of “not proven” — it seemed that he was angling for a move to Aston Villa last summer.

That move ultimately failed to materialise as Paqueta went on to insist that he wanted to stay at the London Stadium and was not interested in a move away. Amidst their ongoing struggles, and his own poor form this year, which has also seen him miss the last few weeks where this speculation first came to light, it seems he is done with England, the media, and now wants to return home to Brazilian club Flamengo.

Originally, it was said that West Ham were not open to a move given their league placing, but with claims that Flamengo were willing to pay £35.5 million for the 28-year-old, 61-capped international, and then loan him back for the remainder of the current campaign, it seemed that it might have legs.

Whether or not the fact that the Hammers have now picked up three wins on the spin for the first time since 2023, when the player was not in their line-up, has played into this or not remains to be seen, but as we entered the new week, it is now being claimed that a deal is almost done and that fans could well expect an announcement in the next few days.

This is now very much one to watch as deadline day nears.

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