Manchester City are preparing a "new bid" for West Ham United attacking midfielder Lucas Paqueta, and a reliable journalist has revealed the sort of offer expected to go in.
How much did West Ham pay for Lucas Paqueta?
The Brazil international first arrived at the London Stadium for a reported £51m from Lyon last summer, and during his debut season in the Premier League, he clocked up a total of 42 appearances, but there’s a chance that he could be on the move after just one term.
Despite still having another four years remaining on his contract, the 25-year-old firmly established himself as David Moyes’ overall second best-performing player behind Declan Rice during the previous campaign with a WhoScored match rating of 6.97, and this form has caught the eye of Pep Guardiola.
The Athletic were the first to report that the Sky Blues were exploring a deal for the E20 talisman, before Fabrizio Romano confirmed that chiefs had seen an opening £70m verbal proposal turned down, but with the player having changed agents to force a move to a bigger club, as per the same outlet, the reigning top-flight champions feel they can pull off a swoop.
Are Man City signing Lucas Paqueta?
Taking to X, Romano revealed that Man City are getting ready to table an improved offer for Paqueta who is pushing to join, and despite West Ham currently standing firm, it's expected that developments will take place should an acceptable fee be proposed. He wrote:
"Understand Man City are preparing new bid for Lucas Paqueta — negotiations will advance with West Ham #MCFC. Paqueta has reached an agreement on personal terms with City and wants the move. Opening £70m bid rejected but City will submit new one."
How good is Lucas Paqueta?
During his time so far at West Ham, Paqueta has posted 12 goal contributions (seven assists and five goals) in 42 appearances and the ability that he has is “mind-boggling” according to his former captain Rice, so should the attacking midfielder put pen to paper, it would be a huge coup for Man City.
Sponsored by Nike, Moyes’ £150k-per-week earner also recorded a total of 52 shots over the course of the campaign which was the third-highest number throughout the whole of his squad, via FBRef, with this positive form also seeing him receive four man-of-the-match awards from WhoScored.
Furthermore, the left-footed gem is a versatile operator having been deployed in six different positions over the grass since the start of his career, including everywhere across the centre and even up top as a striker, so this is another attribute that Guardiola will no doubt be attracted to, hence why he's pursuing him so intensely.
Finally, Paqueta recently had a taste of success having won the Europa Conference League at the end of last season so will know what it takes to be successful and compete for silverware at the highest level, therefore he would be able to match the winning mentality of the squad already at the Etihad.