Manchester City are interested in signing West Ham midfielder Lucas Paqueta, sources have revealed to ESPN.
City have yet to make a formal bid for the Brazilian midfielder but he is on the club’s list of potential targets.
Paqueta’s transfer is viewed by the club as separate from anything that might happen to Bernardo Silva’s future.
Silva has expressed a desire to seek new challenges beyond the Etihad Stadium, but sources have told ESPN that City are growing confident of keeping the 28-year-old despite interest from Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain and the Saudi League.
Manchester City have yet to receive a formal bid for Silva and will offer the Portugal international a new contract.
Paqueta is valued at over £70 million ($89.4 million) by West Ham, who are unwilling to lose the 25-year-old after Declan Rice left Arsenal in the summer.
He helped West Ham lift the European Conference League trophy in his first season at the London Stadium following his £50 million move from Lyon in 2022.
He has also played for Milan and Flamengo and was part of the Brazil squad at the World Cup in Qatar.
In fact, that value was 19 million pounds higher than when West Ham bought Paqueta from Olympique Lyon last year. Paqueta comes to West Ham in 2022 for a transfer fee of 51 million pounds.
The transfer brought benefits to Paqueta’s old club, AC Milan. AC Milan is entitled to coaching money worth 1 percent of Paqueta’s transfer price.
As quoted from Calcio e Finanza’s report, this mechanism was put in place as a way for European football to protect academies, which generally train players from 12 to 23 years old.
So, when he moved to AC Milan from Flamengo in 2018, Paqueta was under the age of 23 so that the Italian giants were considered to have been involved in the coaching period.
However, Paqueta, who was signed for 38 million euros, only lasted a year and a half at AC Milan. He was sold to Lyon with a tag of 20 million euros.
Who would have thought, in just two years since anchoring to Lyon, Paqueta’s market price shot up sharply, until City now dared to bid 70 million pounds.
If Paqueta’s transfer from West Ham to Man City is realized, AC Milan can make another profit.
Using the assumption that Paqueta is valued at 70 million pounds or around 80 million euros, AC Milan can at least get one percent, which is approximately 800 thousand euros.
The commission will be charged to the selling club, in this case West Ham.
“I’m not going to answer questions about Paqueta. He is a West Ham player,” said Man City coach, Pep Guardiola, recently regarding Paqueta’s transfer news.
City strengthened their midfield during the transfer window by signing Mateo Kovacic for £30 million from Chelsea.
Kovacic replaced Ilkay Gundogan in the squad after moving to Barcelona on a free transfer.
Manchester City also spent £30 million to bring Riyad Mahrez to Al Ahli.
Meanwhile, City also believe Kyle Walker will turn down Bayern Munich’s interest in signing a new contract at the Etihad.
The 33-year-old has a year left on his contract but is considering extending it for another two years.
The Citizens will start their 2024/24 Premier League season away to Burnley on Friday.
