Exclusive: West Ham working on Lucas Paqueta replacement as transfer to PL rivals falls through, says expert

West Ham United are working on talks over the potential transfer of Ajax attacking midfielder Mohammed Kudus as a replacement in case they lose Lucas Paqueta to Manchester City.

That’s according to Fabrizio Romano in the latest edition of his exclusive column for CaughtOffside, with the reporter also explaining why Kudus’ move to Brighton now looks to be off.

West Ham look to be in serious danger of losing Paqueta to Man City, with Romano claiming the Premier League champions are 100% set to bid for the Brazilian again.

Kudus could be a fine replacement for Paqueta if he does move on, but it seems there might be some complications in this deal, if Brighton’s experience is anything to go by.

Romano claims Brighton decided they didn’t like the ‘situation’ with Kudus, as they weren’t keen on including a release clause in his contract, while the player was also not entirely happy with their proposal either.

“Manchester City will also bid again for Lucas Paqueta – 100%. Now West Ham are working on a deal for Mohammed Kudus deal in case Paqueta could go to Man City, talks are ongoing,” Romano said.

“Kudus has been attracting interest all summer, particularly from Brighton. However, Brighton rejected the inclusion of a release clause in the deal and also there were some other issues – the player was not happy with the proposal and Brighton decided to move on. They don’t like these kind of situations.”