Former Arsenal and England defender Martin Keown has been left to look silly after his comments over West Ham United midfielder Lucas Paqueta.
Paqueta, who joined West Ham from Olympique Lyonnais in the summer, made his World Cup debut on Thursday night, starting in midfield and playing for 75 minutes during Brazil’s 2-0 win over Serbia.
Keown, whose playing career saw him win 43 caps for England and play 449 times for Arsenal in all competitions across two separate spells, has given his verdict on the West Ham playmaker.
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He was the co-commentator on BBC for the game and ahead of kick-off, spoke about Paqueta, Tottenham Hotspur striker Richarlison and Barcelona’s former Leeds United winger Raphinha, with the trio all starting in the 2-0 win.
Despite Keown’s criticism, the trio all played big roles in the win, with Richarlison scoring both goals in the second half for Tite’s side.
“I’ve not seen anything from Brazil (that suggests they are anything special),” Keown said on co-commentary on BBC. “They’ve got Richarlison up front, hasn’t scored a goal for Spurs all season.
“Was Raphinha really all that good at Leeds? And Lucas Paqueta, is he really setting the world alight at West Ham? What do people think they put a Brazil shirt on and suddenly they’re world beaters?”
Those comments left Keown looking rather silly as the trio helped inspire the South American side to a win in their opening group stage match against Serbia, with Richarlison netting twice to help put Brazil top of Group G ahead of their final two group matches against Switzerland and Cameroon.
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