Manchester City are reportedly set to submit a second bid for West Ham midfielder Lucas Paqueta after seeing an offer worth £70m rejected.
Pep Guardiola is keen to add another midfielder to his squad and has identified the Brazil international as his primary transfer target.
West Ham signed Paqueta from Lyon for a fee of £51m last summer. He has since made 41 appearances across all competitions, scoring five goals and making seven assists in the process.
David Moyes is understandably reluctant to lose another key midfielder, though. The Hammers have already sold star player Declan Rice to Arsenal for £105m this summer.
Moyes recently confirmed in an interview that there ‘had been an offer’ for Paqueta from Man City, but that it was ‘nowhere near’ meeting West Ham’s valuation.
Paqueta has already reached ‘an agreement in principle’ on a six-year contract with the Cityzens. Personal terms, therefore, won’t be an issue, so the only thing left is for Man City to agree a transfer fee.
With £70m not even coming close to West Ham’s price tag, Man City will have to put their money where their mouth is to get a deal over tje line.
According to reputed transfer journalist Fabrizio Romano, Man City will submit a second bid for Paqueta imminently.
On Twitter, he wrote: “Understand Man City are preparing new bid for Lucas Paqueta — negotiations will advance with West Ham.
“Paqueta has reached an agreement on personal terms with City and wants the move. Opening £70m bid rejected but City will submit new one.”
Previous reports suggest West Ham will only accept an offer of £95m for Paqueta. Man City may include one of their players in the deal to reduce that price, though.
As reported by TEAMtalk, Guardiola is considering including Cole Palmer in a part-exchange deal.
The 21-year-old attacking midfielder has bags of potential and has already made 40 appearances for Man City. He also came off the bench in the Cityzens 3-0 victory over Burnley on Friday.
Whether or not Man City will include Palmer in their new bid for Paqueta remains to be seen. If not, it will be interesting to see if West Ham stand firm on their £95m valuation.
