Lucas Paqueta is clearly a man who believes that actions speak louder than words, the West Ham United playmaker responding to those Aston Villa links in fairly iconic fashion at the City Ground.
As Paqueta joined Jarrod Bowen and Callum Wilson on the scoresheet – West Ham United ended their wait for a first win of the new campaign in style away to Nottingham Forest – his celebration said more than words ever could.
Lucas Paqueta rolled his spot-kick past a helpless Matz Sels after the devastating Crysencio Summerville tore Nottingham Forest’s defence apart once again.
A metaphorical throwing away of the phone then followed by a kiss of the badge. You did not need a PhD in psychology to realise what the Brazil international was getting at.
Fabrizio Romano claimed that Aston Villa were ‘closing in’ on a potential £47 million deal before kick off on the banks of the Trent, albeit his trademark ‘here we go’ proved to be mightily premature this time around.
And as with Paqueta shut down those exit rumours with as much swagger as he scored his penalty, Aston Villa have quickly turned their attention to another Premier League playmaker. Ironically, one who, had Paqueta departed earlier in the window, might well have ended up at West Ham in the shape of Harvey Elliott.
Aston Villa turn to Liverpool’s Harvey Elliott as Lucas Paqueta stays at West Ham United
A couple of weeks ago, both Alan Pardew and Tony Cottee urged West Ham to bring Harvey Elliott to the capital, while bringing an end to his pursuit of a Liverpool escape route.
While inspiring England to Under-21 European Championship glory, the former Fulham wonderkid had made it clear he wanted to leave the reigning Premier League champions for more regular game time.
Now, West Ham were interested in Harvey Elliott. Of that there is no doubt. But, as The Daily Mail reported at the end of July, Liverpool’s £40 million price-tag made a deal impossible at a time when the Hammers were rather short of cash.
Why West Ham eventually went for Southampton’s Mateus Fernandes instead when they did have £40 million to spend, rather than step up their pursuit of Elliott, well that is up for debate. Perhaps they felt that the more physically-imposing, ball-carrying Fernandes was needed more than the silky, somewhat Paqueta-esque Elliott.
Aston Villa certainly seem to believe that Paqueta and Elliott have broadly similar skillsets.
Because, according to a deadline day update from Fabrizio Romano, Aston Villa are now set to sign the Liverpool benchwarmer before the 7pm cut-off, albeit for £5 million less than the Hammers were quoted earlier in the window.
Mateus Fernandes shines on West Ham debut at Nottingham Forest
While Elliott watched on from the bench as Dominik Szoboszlai’s glorious free-kick earned Liverpool a tense 1-0 win over Arsenal, Mateus Fernandes dazzled the West Ham fans on his first appearance for the East London outfit.
A constant bundle of energy and intensity, Graham Potter predicted Fernandes would bring a ‘different dimension’ to his previously stately Hammers midfield. He wasn’t wrong.
“It was a perfect debut for me,” Fernandes said, a stand-out performer during the most unexpected of three-goal away wins. “I gave everything out there, and I think as a team we did very well.
“I think we deserved it. Over the last couple of days, training has been good, and though we knew they were a good team, we fully believed we could come here and win. We have world-class players with many qualities, and we showed that out there.
“[Nottingham Forest] a very physical team, but we matched them, and we set the foundations in the first half. We tried to be intense and win every duel, and we’re really happy to come out of it with the points.
“Now, we just need to be more consistent going forward. There are still things we know we can improve, but we are confident we can keep winning games and achieve our goals.”
Receive a digest of our best West Ham content each week direct to your mailbox
