West Ham Brazil Midfielder Lucas Paquetá Facing Six-figure Fine

Lucas Paquetá, the West Ham United and Brazil national team attacking midfielder, who was cleared of spot-fixing by the Football Association (FA) in July, is now facing a six-figure fine for failing to cooperate with the investigation, it has been reported.

Paquetá, aged 28, who joined The Hammers from Italian giants AC Milan in 2022 (pictured in Milano kit, above) is expected to escape a ban for “misconduct”, paper-of-record The Times reported yesterday (September 2).

But the English football governing body is seriously looking to sanction him for his “failure to cooperate” with their lengthy investigation into alleged match- and spot-fixing.

The West Ham playmaker was cleared of spot-fixing in July, following accusations that he deliberately got booked in several matches to allow punters to bet on the timing and number of yellow cards he collected.

However, lesser charges, of failing to answer questions and provide information to investigators, were found proven, The Times reported.

And they say that a fine of around £150,000 (US$201,370) is now in the offing.

Having been found not guilty of the key charge of spot-fixing, the FA may very well have to pay the costs of Paquetá’s legal defence, said to be in the region of £1 million (US$1.34m).

Flamengo

Manchester City were poised to buy the attacking midfielder for £85 million (US$114m) from the Hammers, until the bid was derailed by the corruption charges.

Pacquetá, born on Pacquetá Island in Rio de Janeiro, who also formerly played for France’s Ligue 1 Lyon, is currently valued at considerably less – around £25 million (some US$35.6m).

He began his career at Rio’s Flamengo, joining their academy at eight-years-old. And has since played for Brazil’s storied national football team 55 times.

“Since the first day of this investigation, I have maintained my innocence against these extremely serious accusations,” Pacquetá affirmed after he was cleared of the match spot-fixing charges.

“I can’t say anything more at this time, but I would like to express how grateful I am to God and how eager I am to return to playing football with a smile on my face.

“To my wife who never let go of my hand, to West Ham, to the fans who always cheered me on, and to my family, friends and the legal team who have supported me — thank you for everything.”