West Ham’s bid to sign Lucas Paqueta is potentially at risk from a late bid from a Premier League rival looking to hijack the transfer.
The Hammers last week agreed a club-record deal worth around £51million to sign the Brazilian from Lyon, and the player has subsequently undergone a medical ahead of completing the move.
But, speaking to beIN Sports on Sunday, Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas suggested he was surprised a “very big club” did not come in for Paqueta and claimed an unnamed English club explored a late attempt to sign the player and opened the door to a possible late twist in the tale.
“It’s unfortunate that Lucas Paqueta is leaving, but he wanted to leave,” Aulas said. “We thought we had very big clubs, we didn’t have them. We had to talk at the last moment with West Ham.
“Now I know that there was an English club that wanted to come forward at the last moment, so maybe tomorrow morning we’ll wake up with a novelty. I can’t tell you the name.”
Arsenal, Newcastle, Tottenham and Manchester United have all been previously linked with the player.
