It's certainly bad news for West Ham and Lucas Paqueta that the midfielder has been charged by the FA with breaches of spot-betting regulations, allegations he strenuously denies. If found guilty there are fears he could get a ten-year or even a lifetime ban. It would surely be peak West Ham to sign a player for £50 million and then see him banned for many years with no re-sale value. Without the £85 million from Paqueta's proposed move to Manchester City new gaffer Julen Lopetegui's options in the market would be limited too.
Yet there is surely hope in the fact that without solid evidence allegations of getting deliberately booked are very difficult to prove, despite suspicious bets at Paqueta Island in Brazil. The player denies any knowledge of this. While sixty-two thousand West Ham fans also claim to have sold their car to Lucas Paqueta, though it's not necessarily true.
Paqueta seems to be always getting silly bookings for lunging in or petulance, and they haven't stopped since the allegations appeared at the start of last season. He's an emotional player and he gets stuck in, yellow cards are aways likely. The Guardian reports that Paqueta was interviewed last September and gave the FA access to his phone a month later. Lucas has until June to respond to the allegations and for the sake of both player and club this needs to be resolved quickly.
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