After the Lucas Paqueta FA charge, there is apparently some more bad news for West Ham United fans to digest this morning.
West Ham’s Lucas Paqueta faced an FA charge yesterday afternoon for four separate betting breaches.
In the summer of 2023, reports surfaced that the 26-year-old was under investigation by the FA for these breaches, with suggestions that he could potentially face a multi-year ban.
This situation led to a potential move to Manchester City not materializing for Paqueta, and instead, he played the 2023/24 campaign for West Ham.
On the whole, he enjoyed a successful campaign and before last night, the last we heard was that all charges against him were set to be dropped.
However, that obviously isn’t the case, and now another concerning claim has been made regarding his situation.
After Lucas Paqueta FA charge, Jacob Steinberg drops fresh update
So there’s some really bad news for the player and the Hammers this morning.
According to the Guardian’s Jacob Steinberg, the Hammers hierarchy fear that Paqueta’s career could be over if he’s found guilty of the betting breaches:
Steinberg said, “West Ham fear Lucas Paquetá’s career could be over if he is found guilty of deliberately getting booked after the midfielder was charged by the Football Association in relation to alleged breaches of betting regulations.”
This would obviously be absolutely catastrophic for West Ham, if it did indeed turn out to be the case.
We would have a £70-85 million asset that we won’t be able to sell, nor would we be able to use said asset.
Lucas Paqueta has been absolutely brilliant for us on the whole for two years but if he’s found guilty of the FA charge being levelled against him, there could be some really dark days ahead for him and the club.
What are the games that Paqueta is being investigated for
The Brazilian is being charged for the yellow cards he picked up during our clashes with Leicester, Aston Villa, Leeds and Bournemouth in 2022 and 2023.
Obviously nothing is done yet concerning a decision, but if he is found guilty, he can certainly expect a lengthy ban.
Sandro Tonali of Newcastle was handed a 10-game ban for betting on his team to win, so I dread to think what kind of punishment could be dealt to Lucas Paqueta, if the FA charge sticks.
Let’s hope that there’s a good ending to all of this for the Brazilian and West Ham. It’s not looking good right now though, that’s for sure.
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