Lucas Paqueta has turned the tables on Fabrizio Romano, forcing the Italian transfer insider into an embarrassing West Ham climbdown over a move to Aston Villa and now the Brazilian’s wife is also involved.
With just a few hours left of the summer transfer window, Aston Villa have been forced to look elsewhere after failing with a low-ball bid for West Ham star Lucas Paqueta.
Aston Villa have been pushing to try and sign Paqueta from West Ham for the last week.
The Hammers’ hierarchy revealed Villa and Spurs wanted Paqueta along with two Saudi clubs in an update last week.
Transfer reporter Fabrizio Romano has angered West Ham and the club’s supporters with a narrative that Paqueta wants out of the club before the deadline.
Paqueta forces Romano into embarrassing Villa climbdown
The self-styled transfer insider stated on the eve of the first game of the season that Paqueta wanted out amid links to the likes of Aston Villa.
Spurs have since signed Xavi Simons instead, leaving the path clear to Aston Villa to try and lure Paqueta to the Midlands.
Romano has been heavily criticised by West Ham and Aston Villa fans over his Paqueta updates.
Many believe he was being fed information by certain parties to try and grease the wheels of a move.
The transfer reporter even claimed Paqueta wanted to leave West Ham for Aston Villa and liked Unai Emery’s project.
Romano has admitted he is often hesitant to confirm deals involving West Ham until he sees the player in question holding up the shirt.
Football transfers can be volatile and situations can change at the flip of a coin.
But Romano has been wrong on several West Ham deals including Fabricio Bruno and John Victor. He even claimed today the Hammers were in talks to sign Igor Tudor on loan but he is in fact joining Palace.
Now West Ham star Paqueta has forced Romano into embarrassing Aston Villa climbdown and his wife joins in.
Paqueta is Romano’s latest West Ham faux pas.
The reporter claimed there would be a ‘here we go soon’ on Paqueta joining Villa.
Paqueta’s wife joins in as Romano backpedals over West Ham star
But Paqueta made Romano look silly with his celebration after starring and scoring in West Ham’s revitalising 3-0 victory at Nottingham Forest.
Clearly well aware of Romano’s claims that he ‘wants to join Villa’, the Brazilian magnifico mimicked taking a phone call before hanging up and tossing the imaginary handset away.
Paqueta then wagged his finger saying ‘no’ as he proceeded to kiss the West Ham badge in front of the travelling fans.
The celebration will go down in Hammers folklore and Romano immediately faced backlash from Villa fans on social media, saying his information was inaccurate.
The celebration forced Romano to backpedal on X.
With clearly no chance of Paqueta joining Aston Villa, Romano posted a picture of the 28-year-old kissing the Hammers badge.
“Lucas Paquetá, kissing West Ham badge after official bid from Aston Villa last night. Clear message,” Romano said on X.
Many fans of both West Ham and Villa, who have since turned to Harvey Elliott instead, savaged Romano in the comments.
Duda Fournier shows where Paqueta family’s heart is
Paqueta’s wife Duda Fournier then gave her own response to the rumours.
The Brazilian influencer posted a picture on Instagram Stories showing her husband pulling the West Ham badge from his chest with a very simple caption saying ‘West Ham’ accompanied by a series of hearts, being sure to tag the club in too.
Duda is known to love the Hammers for standing by Paqueta and her family during his two-year spot-fixing battle.
Now it looks like Paqueta and his family are determined to repay the faith of the Hammers and the club’s fans.
Much to the frustration of Aston Villa – and Romano.
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