Pep Guardiola and Manchester City named as ‘huge admirers’ in West Ham star – Transfer not ruled out | OneFootball

Manchester City could yet re-emerge as a potential destination for West Ham United star Lucas Paqueta, as new report has sensationally claimed.

Pep Guardiola was understood to be a huge admirer of the Brazilian, who was heavily linked with a £85 million switch to the Etihad Stadium in 2023 – a move that broke down owing to betting charges against the midfielder that came to light in the subsequent nine months.

City settled for a third-place Premier League finish last term, with a 71-point tally marking their lowest domestic finish under Guardiola, who has been given a new lease of life following the appointment of Hugo Viana as director of football.

Rayan Ait-Nouri, Marcus Bettinelli, Tijjani Reijnders and Rayan Cherki have all been signed as Manchester City aspire to go all out and challenge for the Premier League and UEFA Champions League titles in the seasons to come.

After a £181.5 million January outlay to sign Omar Marmoush, Nico Gonzalez, Vitor Reis and Abdukodir Khusanov, City have undergone a significant revamp in the current transfer window and have parted ways with the trio of Kevin De Bruyne, Kyle Walker and Scott Carson.

James McAtee is expected to complete a permanent transfer away in what remains of the transfer window, with Jack Grealish and Kalvin Phillips also deemed surplus to requirements and believed to be in the midst of finding new clubs themselves.

The acquisition of a new right-back remains on the cards for the Blues, who have this week been linked with a rekindling of interest in Paqueta – who was deemed too expensive by Manchester City bosses back in 2023 – and would have to come much cheaper should the 2023 treble winners revisit their interest in the 27-year-old Brazil international.

According to the information of TBR Football’s Graeme Bailey, Manchester City remain ‘huge admirers’ of Lucas Paqueta and as such they are not being ruled out as a potential suitor for the Brazilian midfielder this summer.

“West Ham are delighted but not surprised that Lucas Paqueta has been cleared,” Bailey said of the Football Association’s investigation into the midfielder over alleged spot-fixing. “Sources have confirmed to me they were informed of the decision on Friday evening, as is the practice ahead of an official confirmation.”

Bailey continued, “Paqueta himself has been working hard in pre-season, but now, we again visit the question of where he is going to play as he is now focused on being a part of Carlo Ancelotti’s World Cup squad.”

Discussing potential next destinations for Lucas Paqueta, Bailey touched upon the Etihad Stadium as he said, “I am told that Manchester City remain huge admirers of the player and do not rule them out coming back in, although the £80 million fee they previously agreed is likely to be more than halved if they do return.

“There is interest in the Saudi Pro League too, and the expectation, as we have previously revealed, is that Paqueta will now move on.”