Manchester City have made a verbal offer of €80m to sign West Ham star Lucas Paqueta, according to journalist Santi Aouna.
Are Man City signing Lucas Paqueta?
City appear to be on the search for a new attacking addition to cap off their summer business following deals for midfielder Mateo Kovacic and defender Josko Gvardiol.
Riyad Mahrez has left the Etihad Stadium this summer with a move to Saudi Pro League side Al-Ahli, leaving Pep Guardiola without a recognised right-winger ahead of the new Premier League campaign which bets underway on Friday evening against Vincent Kompany’s Burnley.
Crystal Palace’s Michael Olise and Rennes’ Jeremy Doku are two wingers who have been linked with a move to the Etihad, but Paqueta also appears to be on the club’s radar. Fabrizio Romano took to X earlier this week, claiming that Man City have a concrete interest in Paqueta and that talks have taken place.
“Manchester City have concrete interest in Lucas Paqueta. Talks took place with West Ham this week. Not an easy negotiation but City have added him to summer targets list.”
It now looks as of City have taken their interest to the next level by presenting an offer. Aouna took to X on Wednesday to share what he’s heard on Paqueta and a potential Man City move.
He said that the treble winners have made a verbal offer of €80m (£69m) for the player, who is keen to move to Manchester, however, West Ham appear to be holding out for a fee in the region of €90m (£77.6m).
“Manchester City has made a verbal offer of €80m for Paqueta, who is expecting €90m. Negotiations underway. The midfielder has already said YES to sign for the Citizens.”
Who is Lucas Paqueta?
Paqueta is primarily an attacking midfielder who can also play in a deeper role and appears to be at the peak of his powers with a career-high Transfermarkt €45m valuation.
The 25-year-old made the move to the London Stadium from Lyon last summer and prior to that, spent time with AC Milan and Flamengo. During his career, Paqueta has turned out as a right or left midfielder and even as a centre-forward on occasions, however, the majority of his appearances have come centrally as an attacking or box-to-box midfielder, so it would be interesting to see where Guardiola would want to use him, should a transfer materialise.
Former teammate Declan Rice, who was on City’s radar earlier in the window, praised the playmaker last season, saying:
“He’s incredible, honestly, he’s absolutely incredible. It’s obviously taken him a while to settle into the Premier League and into the training ground, moving his family over.
"I think now you’re seeing the real Lucas. Some of the stuff he does, even in training, it’s just mind-boggling how good he is.”
In his first season in England, Paqueta contributed to 12 goals and helped the Hammers win the Europa Conference League, and by the looks of it, a move to Manchester could be possible before the September 1 deadline, although City may need to increase their opening proposal.