Man City have €81m offer for Brazil star knocked back

Robin Bairner

• 9 Aug 2023 08:43 BST
• 3 min read

West Ham have rejected a bid worth £70 million (€81m) for Lucas Paqueta from Manchester City, according to reports from Brazil.

Paqueta arrived at West Ham last summer from Lyon for £37 million (€43m) and after a slow start to life in the Premier League began to show what he can do in England’s top flight.

A Brazil international with 42 caps and nine goals, Paqueta has won over Hammers fans for his all-action style, which the 25-year-old expressed in 41 appearances that saw him score five goals and deliver seven assists for his new club, playing a leading role as they won the Europa Conference League.

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Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola is known to want to boost his midfield options and has targeted Paqueta but Ge Globo reports that his first bid of £70m will be knocked back by their Premier League rivals.

Guardiola has long watched the player, having been an admirer of him during his Milan and Lyon days. Indeed, he was seen as an alternative to Bernardo Silva, whose future remains uncertain at the club, with big interest coming from Barcelona.

Indeed, this might be seen as a clue that the Man City boss is about to relax his stance on Bernardo’s future and allow him to talk with the Catalans, as well as potentially PSG, who are also interested.

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West Ham still in Ward-Prowse race

West Ham are unlikely to sell Paqueta at present as they seek to make signings of their own, with Edson Alvarez set to arrive from Ajax as their first arrival of what has been a slow summer in the transfer market.

The Hammers, as exclusively revealed by FootballTransfers, are still in with a shout of landing James Ward-Prowse from Southampton, having had bids knocked back by the Championship club.

West Ham have told Saints that they will not bid higher than £30m for Ward-Prowse, but having received a club-record fee from Arsenal for midfielder Declan Rice earlier this summer, the spending power of the London club is well known and they are being quoted big fees for their transfer targets.

The Rice money, while acting as a curse in terms of signing players, also offers West Ham insurance against losing other stars such as Paqueta for cheap as they have the financial muscle to reject big transfer bids from the likes of Man City.