West Ham have told Manchester City to cough up a whopping £97million to sign Lucas Paqueta, according to Foot Mercato.
Journalist Santi Aouna reported on Thursday (10 August) that the Premier League champions had a second verbal bid of £88m for the Brazilian midfielder rejected by the Hammers.
Aouna had said in his tweet that negotiations are going well and a compromise should be reached, but it will leave West Ham losing another star man after Declan Rice departed for Arsenal earlier in the window.
Paqueta, who arrived from Lyon last year, took a little longer to get going but once he hit his stride was becoming a big fan favourite at the London Stadium.
Which is why City’s approach this close to the new season will be an infinitely tougher pill to swallow for Hammers fans the loss of Rice will be.
It has come completely out of the blue and yet looks increasingly likely to become a done deal.
West Ham will have raked in a fortune off Rice, Gianluca Scamacca and Paqueta (if it does get complete) but have thus far only signed Edson Alvarez from Ajax.
Harry Maguire and James Ward-Prowse are heavily tipped to make the move, but the Hammers will need a lot of reinforcements to replace the talent they have lost this summer.
In other West Ham news, Harry Maguire will reportedly get a payout to join the Hammers as Manchester United transfer news emerges
A Hammer blow
The Declan Rice news was difficult to take, but there was always an inevitability that the club captain and boyhood fan would depart having helped West Ham win the Europa Conference League last season.
Foot Mercato’s report says West Ham have come back with a counter-offer to City that they described as a “crazy sum” and “a real madness”.
