Manchester City are interested in signing West Ham star Lucas Paqueta, with talks taking place over a potential transfer this week, according to Fabrizio Romano.
What’s the latest Man City transfer news?
Those at the Etihad Stadium have added to Pep Guardiola’s squad this summer by signing a new midfielder and centre-back. Croatia internationals Mateo Kovacic and Josko Gvardiol have moved to the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League winners from Chelsea and RB Leipzig respectively, but another new addition could be on the cards before the September 1 deadline.
City have lost Ilkay Gundogan to FC Barcelona and Riyad Mahrez to Al-Ahli this summer, so a new attacker to replace the latter appears to be on the to-do list in Manchester.
There have been a number of players mentioned, including Crystal Palace’s Michael Olise, with reports even claiming that a deal is ‘very probable’. Rennes’ Jeremy Doku is another winger who has been linked to the Etihad, but it appears as if Paqueta is also of interest to Guardiola and co.
Transfer expert Romano took to X in the last 24 hours to share what he’s heard on Man City and Paqueta. The Italian stated that Man City have a concrete interest in the player and that talks have taken place this week, although a deal won’t be easy.
“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, as @marcoconterio @geglobo reported.”
How good is Lucas Paqueta?
Paqueta began his career on the books with Brazilian side Flamengo and made a big-money move to AC Milan back in 2019. He spent just 18 months and made 44 appearances for Milan before moving to France with Lyon, where he went on to turn out on 80 appearances, contributing to 34 goals.
The 25-year-old then joined West Ham last summer and helped the Hammers win the Europa Conference League, contributing to 12 goals during his first season at the London Stadium.
Primarily a left-footed attacking midfielder who can also play in a deeper role, Paqueta is valued at a career-high €45m by Transfermarkt and was hailed by Declan Rice last season, who said:
“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.”
As per FBref, the £150,000-a-week attacker has ranked in the top 1% for attacking midfielders and wingers for tackles and blocks over the past 12 months, showing the defensive output he could offer to Guardiola’s side in the top flight.
He also ranks highly for passes into the final third and through balls, showing the quality he also has when on the ball, so it could prove to be a shrewd deal, however, it doesn’t appear to be a straightforward one but one that could well develop over the coming days.