The outcome of a fresh meeting between Nuno Espírito Santo and Lucas Paqueta at Rush Green has been revealed as West Ham close on a deal with Flamengo.
Lucas Paqueta had new face-to-face talks with Hammers boss Nuno Espirito Santo this week and is now expected to depart imminently.
Paqueta has been pushing to leave West Ham for a return to boyhood club Flamengo, despite the club being in the midst of a battle to stay in the Premier League.
When West Ham need all their top players pulling in the same direction, Paqueta has been begging the club to let him jump ship and go back to Brazil.
After pushing to leave in the summer, the 28-year-old remained at the London Stadium.
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But Paqueta stated this would be his final season with West Ham in a post on social media once the summer window had closed.
It seems he won’t even fulfil that pledge, though, with talks over his future dominating headlines when everyone at West Ham should be focused on trying to stay in the top flight.
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The situation turned ugly last week.
Paqueta missed the wins over QPR and Spurs with his camp citing a back injury which has also meant he has not been training with the team.
West Ham then accused Paqueta of ‘lies’ and ‘playing games’ over the back injury claims.
Brazilian sources claimed Paqueta has been having secret calls with Flamengo’s manager since December, vowing to push for the move.
The Hammers have been reluctant to sell full stop while they battle relegation.
But certainly not for any less than their £42.5m valuation – some £10m more than Flamengo’s alleged opening offer.
It was claimed last week that Nuno asked David Sullivan to let Paqueta leave West Ham after holding a meeting with the playmaker.
Now West Ham look set to sell Paqueta in the next 24 hours after A new meeting with Nuno, sources claim.
Earlier this week it was claimed West Ham’s Paqueta sale was ‘ready to be sealed in black and white’ for a fee of around £38m all-in.
West Ham Paqueta sale in next 24 hours after fresh Nuno chat?
Talks have continued in the background.
Overnight Vinicius Junior leaked that Paqueta’s West Ham exit is imminent when he was asked about his best friend on live TV.
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And it seems Vini Jr, who shares the same Roc Nation agents as his childhood pal, was right.
Brazilian journalist Pablo Rua has been right across the Paqueta story from the very start.
He claims Paqueta returned to the club’s Rush Green training base on Tuesday but did not end up training with his teammates.
Rua says West Ham’s record £51m signing met with Nuno once again and left training shortly afterwards.
It is stated that the £150k-per-week ace made it clear to Nuno again that he is eager for West Ham to reach a resolution with Flamengo.
That is what is now expected to transpire in the next 24 hours according to further updates from Brazil overnight.
In a further update, Rua said Flamengo sent a new proposal for Paqueta and the expectation is that the negotiation will advance more concretely on Wednesday.
Brazil sources: ‘Paqueta deal may finally be done by Thursday’
Canal journalist Bruno Lemos went one further, saying an agreement for West Ham to sell Paqueta to Flamengo could be concluded by Thursday, 24 hours from now.
“Flamengo has boosted optimism and drawn closer to the values desired by West Ham to repatriate Lucas Paqueta,” Lemos said.
“Internal expectations are that the negotiation could finally be concluded by Thursday.”
Hammers News has approached the top spokesman for West Ham’s owners for clarification over the Paqueta situation.
That has been met with radio silence, suggesting talks may well be reaching the crucial end game.
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