Dharmesh Sheth and Fabrizio Romano have both heard the same thing about a marquee West Ham move for Lucas Paqueta.
Reports abound yesterday that West Ham are in talks to sign Brazilian playmaker Paqueta from Lyon (Sky Sports).
A report from L’Equipe then claimed an initial bid worth around £40m had been rejected by Lyon with West Ham and the Ligue 1 side they knocked out of last season’s Europa League around £8m apart in terms of the fee.
And there was encouraging news on the potential deal after a ‘key West Ham insider’ claimed the club are confident of a compromise with Lyon.
There was further encouragement on Thursday when 90min claimed sources have told them West Ham are pushing to agree a deal worth in excess of €50m (£42m) including bonuses for the Brazil international.
But it seems any excitement that the Lyon star will be strutting his stuff at the London Stadium will be short lived.
Because transfer reporters Dharmesh Sheth and Fabrizio Romano have both heard the same thing about a marquee West Ham move for Paqueta.
Speaking on Sky Sports’ Transfer Show on Thursday night, Sheth claimed he had just been told the ‘deal is off’ after a second big bid from West Ham was rejected by Lyon.
And around the same time Romano took to Twitter telling a similarly depressing tale.
“What I was told before that talks were ongoing over Lucas Paqueta over a 50 million Euro deal after the first offer had been rejected,” Sheth said on Sky Sports’ Transfer Show on Thursday night.
“Now this is just from one source, I’ve still got to get this backed up, I’m told by one source that the deal looks like it might be off now.
“I was told that West Ham had made a last and final offer and it has not been accepted by Lyon. So as it stands, on one hand I’m told that talks are ongoing between the two clubs over trying to get a deal done.
“But… this has literally just come to me just now, I’ve seen a text and it says ‘deal off’.”
Romano took to Twitter with his own, very similar update, but stopped short of declaring the deal dead.
“There’s no full agreement between West Ham and OL for Lucas Paquetá after new round of talks,” Romano said.
“Player keen on the move but talks with Aulas, not easy.
“Vanaken remains one of the options for West Ham after two bids already rejected by Club Brugge.”