West Ham United could see their club-record transfer fee smashed in seasons to come after signing star midfielder Lucas Paqueta from Lyon this summer.
The Hammers paid an initial fee of £36.7million for the 25-year-old in the closing days of the transfer window, but after potential add-ons, that figure could rise to as high as £52.7m, a fee that would smash the club’s previous £45m record spent on former striker Sebastian Haller.
Paqueta, who prior to playing for Lyon spent just under two years in Serie A with AC Milan, has so far played twice for the Hammers in the Premier League against London rivals Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea and also inspired the Irons’ comeback in the Europa Conference League on Thursday night, one of three men bought on at half-time alongside Pablo Fornals and Michail Antonio to inspire a 3-1 win over FCSB.
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Paqueta’s move to the Premier League followed a pattern in the top-flight this summer of Brazil’s top stars coming to England. Manchester United signed Brazilian international duo Antony and Casemiro from Ajax and Real Madrid respectively, with the trio of new signings among 11 Premier League players in Tite’s 26-man Brazil squad for friendlies later this month with Ghana and Tunisia.
That number does not include the Arsenal trio of Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Magalhaes, Nottingham Forest’s Renan Lodi, Tottenham Hotspur’s Emerson Royal, Liverpool loanee Arthur or Aston Villa duo Philippe Coutinho and Douglas Luiz, who were all left out of the squad amid recent call-ups.
Speaking on the recent influx of Brazilian’s in the Premier League, Paqueta explained how players already in the league are frequently urging their national team colleagues to come to England and West Ham’s newest signing thinks that the quality of the Premier League can help Brazil’s national team improved.
“For a start, it’s the best league in the world and I don’t think anyone doubts it,” Paquetá told The Times. “The Brazilians talk about that. The ones who are here say to the others, ‘You have to come — you’re playing in a league that is the absolute best level, a different level to elsewhere.’
“I’m really happy that I’m now here and there are so many Brazilians here too. I think, in turn, the Premier League will help the performance of Brazil improve because we’re playing at the very top.”
Brazil go into this year’s World Cup as the only nation in the competition’s history to have won the World Cup five times, most recently in 2002 where Ronaldo Nazario’s double inspired a 2-0 win in the final over Germany in Yokohama, Japan.
Tite’s side are in Group G of the competition alongside European duo Serbia and Switzerland and African nation Cameroon.
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