Alan Shearer hailed Lucas Paqueta for his brilliant performance for West Ham United this weekend, with Manchester City having been linked with the midfielder in recent times.
City sounded out Paqueta at the end of the last transfer window as a potential replacement for Ilkay Gundogan.
In the end, a move for him did not materialise with West Ham demanding at least £85 million. Then, reports of the player betting suspiciously surfaced, causing City to pull back.
But Paqueta has been showing his class this season and on Sunday, he put in a dazzling performance against Wolves that led to some high praise from Alan Shearer…
Alan Shearer lauds Manchester City target Lucas Paqueta for wonderful display against Wolves
West Ham ran out comfortable 3-0 winners against Wolves at the London Stadium, and Paqueta was the star.
He provided the assists for all three goals, and Wolves just did not have an answer for him.
He showed terrific vision to find Mohammed Kudus twice in the first-half, and then got Jarrod Bowen in on goal in the second-half.
He controlled things for the hosts, having the joint-most touches in the game with 84 (via Sofascore) and he was a constant threat, creating six chances.
Speaking on Match of the Day 2, Shearer said: “He was superb in everything that he did. He basically ran the show and you could tell he was really, really enjoying it.
“With this one pass (for the second Kudus goal), he takes five players out.
“This one (Bowen goal) is just a little wall pass, but it’s the intelligence of where to put it and how many Wolves men it takes out.
“He’s obviously enjoying his football.”
Paqueta would be amazing for City
Paqueta was fantastic yesterday against Wolves and just looks like a player who would really thrive in a City shirt.
He’s technically brilliant, but also does the dirty work as well and you can imagine Pep Guardiola really enjoying working with someone like him. You can certainly imagine him as an advanced midfielder instead of Julian Alvarez.
It’s a real shame City were not able to sign him in the summer, and a January move is probably very unlikely because he’s so key for West Ham.
But perhaps the club ought to try to sign him again next summer.
