Manchester City could reportedly walk away from signing Lucas Paqueta this summer.
Recent days have seen the Citizens being linked with a move for the West Ham United midfielder, with two offers worth £70m and £87m being rejected.
Now though, some fresh behind-the-scenes details have come to light regarding the Manchester club’s stance on this particular transfer deal.
City could walk away from Paqueta deal
A recent report from The Athletic had this to say on the matter.
It said: “Paqueta is not thought to be City’s only potential option in midfield and sources have indicated that the Premier League champions could look elsewhere if they deem West Ham’s demands to be unreasonable.”
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Bearing in mind how City walked away from signing Declan Rice from West Ham back in June after refusing to pay more than the £90m fee they offered for him, it wouldn’t be a surprise if history repeated itself this time around with Paqueta.
Last summer, the east London club secured a club-record deal worth £51m to sign the Brazilian from Olympique Lyon.
Across his debut season at the London Stadium, the midfielder scored five goals and delivered seven assists in 39 appearances in the Premier League and Europa Conference League.
With the Citizens already spending a big fee of £77m to bring in Josko Gvardiol earlier in the window, this could suggest that they may not be too eager to overspend on Paqueta, especially if they feel that the other midfield options on their radar could be cheaper.
Moving forward, if the treble winners decide they won’t pay whatever fee West Ham would be willing to accept for their star midfielder, they’ll have to get a move on to bring in a suitable alternative before the transfer window closes.