Boto and the saga to seal Lucas Paquetá's move to Flamengo

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Coluna do Fla

·11 July 2026

Boto and the saga to seal Lucas Paquetá's move to Flamengo

How did Flamengo’s negotiations for Lucas Paquetá unfold?

Flamengo put together a task force at the start of the year to bring Lucas Paquetá back. Given the situation, the club’s executive football director, José Boto, explained in an exclusive interview with Coluna do Fla how the entire saga of the negotiations with West Ham (ENG) to sign the midfielder played out.

– Without a doubt, the most difficult signing was Paquetá’s. We started with them (West Ham) not wanting to sell, then they wanted to sell. And all of this went on for more than two months. It was very draining, especially because of the time-zone issue -, said José Boto in an interview with Coluna do Fla directly from Portugal.

The Lucas Paquetá saga went on for a long time and had several twists and turns. However, what weighed most throughout the talks was Lucas Paquetá’s decision, as he always mentioned his desire to return to Flamengo. Because of that, Mengo did not give up on trying to sign the player.

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WHAT WAS GOING ON BEHIND THE SCENES WITH THE WEST HAM OWNER IN THE LUCAS PAQUETÁ DEAL?

Still speaking exclusively with Coluna do Fla reporter Rock Hudson, Boto revealed more behind-the-scenes details of the Lucas Paquetá talks. The Portuguese executive explained what conversations with the West Ham owner were like, as he only liked to communicate by email.

– You don’t know this, but as we started exchanging offers and everything else, several people were included in the emails. The legal department of the interested club, the legal department of the other team as well. When I sent a proposal to the owner of West Ham, who is a lovely gentleman, a bit older, when he replied, he removed everyone who had been copied on the email -, he said, before concluding: – I had never seen that in my life. Since the email was only forwarded to me, I suggested we switch to WhatsApp messages (laughs). In every reply of his, some of them quite good, he would only leave me in the email responses -, said José Boto.

HOW DID LUCAS PAQUETÁ’S RETURN TO FLAMENGO HAPPEN?

After all the back-and-forth, Flamengo managed to finalize the signing of Lucas Paquetá. To bring back the Ninho graduate, Rubro-Negro paid 42 million euros (around R$240 million at the exchange rate at the time) to West Ham. With that amount, the midfielder became the biggest investment ever made by a Brazilian club.

Even with the high figures involved, Flamengo is already reaping good rewards from Lucas Paquetá. In less than six months wearing the Sacred Jersey, the No. 20 has put in strong performances and won the 2026 Carioca title. Because of that form, the player was called up to represent Brazil at the World Cup.

WHAT IS LUCAS PAQUETÁ’S CURRENT SITUATION AT FLAMENGO?

At the moment, Lucas Paquetá is recovering from a muscle injury suffered in the match against Japan in the World Cup round of 32. Because of the injury, the Ninho graduate even gave up part of his vacation to begin treatment at the Ninho do Urubu training center. As a result, the expectation is that the player will not miss many of Mengo’s matches after the World Cup resumes.

WHAT IS FLAMENGO’S NEXT MATCH?

Without Lucas Paquetá available, Flamengo will take the field this Saturday (11) to face Benfica (POR) in a match worth the Algarve Tournament trophy. In short, the ball starts rolling at 3:30 p.m. Brasília time, in Portugal. As usual, Coluna do Fla TV will bring all the details of the clash with on-site coverage from Rock Hudson and Simon Lédo on YouTube, as well as on the website and social media.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.