West Ham’s Brazil international Lucas Paqueta is potentially facing an investigation from the Football Association over possible gambling charges, Telegraph Sport understands.
It is believed that the fear of him being charged and potentially receiving a ban from the game prompted the end of Manchester City’s interest in the player in what was shaping up to be an £85 million deal for the attacking midfielder.
When contacted, West Ham did not deny the existence of an FA investigation. The club declined to comment on the matter. The FA also chose not to comment.
It is not yet clear what scale any possible breaches in the gambling regulations by Paqueta have reached. Footballers and managers are prohibited from gambling on the game in any respect including through third parties.
In May, the Brentford striker Ivan Toney was given an eight-month ban and a £50,000 fine having admitted to 232 breaches of the Football Association’s betting regulations. Among those breaches, he laid 13 bets against clubs at which he was registered at the time and will not play again until January 16 at the earliest.
In the hearing earlier this year to decide the tariff for Toney’s punishment, the FA had pushed for the ban to begin at the start of the current season. The independent commission hearing the case rejected that. Nevertheless, it demonstrated the seriousness with which the FA takes breaches of gambling regulation.
The governing body says that ensuring players and active participants in football are not involved in gambling on the game goes right to the heart of protecting the sport’s integrity and that breaches must be met with strong punishments.
Players at all levels of the professional game are given workshops to educate them on the ban on gambling for participants, In Toney’s hearing he admitted that the FA had visited Peterborough United when he was a player there to remind the squad that gambling on the game was forbidden for active footballers.
Paqueta was West Ham’s record club signing last summer, at £51 million from French club Lyon, and after a slow start in English football he had a big impact on West Ham’s season. It was his assist for Jarrod Bowen’s winning goal in the Uefa Conference League final in June. The 25-year-old has 42 caps for Brazil and was part of the team that won the 2019 Copa America.
Manchester City declined to comment.
