Lucas Paqueta really had to work for his Rio return, one of the more divisive footballers in West Ham United’s recent history eventually sealing a Flamengo homecoming at the umpteenth time of asking.
The Brazil international held talks with Flamengo last summer, and the summer before that.
A move he first looked to make in the summer of 2024 would have to wait, though, until January 2026. West Ham finally allowed Paqueta to leave after initially looking to keep him at the club for the second half of the Premier League campaign.
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Thus, for a fee of around £35 million, Paqueta became the third-most expensive sale in West Ham United’s history.
This was not a transfer without a degree of sacrifice. Paqueta leaves Europe at the age of just 28, turning down the chance to stay in England with the likes of Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur.
According to TNT Sports Brazil, the former Lyon and AC Milan ace also gave up £650,000 of his five-year contract at Flamengo in order to free up the funds the reigning Brazilian and Copa Libertadores champions needed to get a deal done.
Sign up for free here to tell us how you felt about Paqueta’s exit!Flamengo chief Jose Boto thanks Lucas Paqueta for forcing West Ham United exit
Sporting director Jose Boto, speaking at a press conference, accepts that this would have been an ‘impossible’ deal if not for Paqueta’s willingness to take a substantial hit to the pocket.
“Without Paqueta, this transfer would not have been possible, no matter how much money we had,” Boto says. “Without his desire, what he did to be here today, his staff who also helped a lot, it wouldn’t have been possible.
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“This shows how much he likes Flamengo, how much he wanted Flamengo. For this amount, there were ten to fifteen clubs in Europe that could have signed him!”
“It is a signing with a huge impact not only in Brazil but throughout Europe. But above all, there is the sporting aspect. We had two or three positions we wanted to strengthen, and he fulfilled all three.
“That was the sporting aspect that made us take this decision and move forward with the deal, knowing that we would be short for the rest of the market.”
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Paqueta says he really was injured at the London Stadium
The Rio-born 28-year-old is determined to put things right while ending a few narratives along the way.
Paqueta left West Ham for family reasons, he protested, not because of their position in the Premier League’s relegation zone. The two years of legal hell he was forced to endure thanks to the Football Association’s spot-fixing charge saw him fall out of love with the game on this side of the Atlantic.
Paqueta hits back at those who doubted his recent back problems, too. He did not feature in any of the final three West Ham games he was available for.
“Thank God I’m better now,” he says. “People think I didn’t have back pain, but I actually had really strong back pain. I played right up until my last match against Nottingham [Forest] while in pain, and I ended up feeling it in that game too.
“So, besides the negotiations, I chose to protect myself and take care of myself – to completely get rid of that pain.
“And of course, in the final days, in the last week of negotiations, it was also really about the negotiations. It was a mix of everything.
“I went a long time without training and without playing. And now I hope to get my fitness back so I can help Flamengo.“
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