Newcastle United might be trailing West Ham United in the race to sign Lucas Paqueta, based on new information regarding the East Londoners.
The Magpies have been linked with the Brazil international on and off throughout the entire summer transfer window.
With Paqueta good friends with Newcastle’s Bruno Guimaraes, a transfer to St James’s Park certainly made sense but West Ham look like they have stolen the initiative.
According to Sky Sports journalist Dharmesh Sheth on Twitter, the Hammers have offered a little under £34 million for the South American sensation.
Sheth added that the player’s representatives are in London as we speak to negotiate the transfer.
Lucas Paqueta
Are Newcastle dead and buried? Well, not quite.
That’s because earlier in the week it was reported that Newcastle were willing to offer £42 million for the player, £9 million more than West Ham.
Having said that, the Tyneside outfit look set to spend the bulk of their remaining budget on Alexander Isak who, according to widespread sources, is set to join Eddie Howe’s side for a club-record £60 million.
That, if true, will undeniably take them out of the equation for Paqueta which should, in theory, give the Irons a relatively free path to sign the Lyon footballer.
West Ham have lost all three Premier League outings so far this season – their worst start to a league campaign for 51 years.
There’s no doubt that David Moyes needs reinforcements to inspire change and maybe, just maybe, Paqueta can do just that.
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