West Ham midfielder has huge support back home surrounding his recent betting allegations.

In a report by the Daily Mail, locals on Paqueta island are confident that their star boy, Lucas Paqueta, is innocent of any wrongdoing.

The recent allegations about the player being involved in a betting scandal are said to have come as a shock to the player. The bets were around three different yellow cards the player received for West Ham.

Despite the bets apparently coming from Paqueta island, which he named himself after, the residents rejected the idea that the playmaker could have any involvement in them.

The Mail Sport went to the island to speak with the inhabitants to try and get their opinion on the allegations. “I don’t think he is involved with these betting schemes,” one local told them. “He liked to goof around a lot on the island with his brother, but doing something incredibly wrong like that is not him.”

Another stated that one of Lucas’ neighbours use to get annoyed with him for kicking a ball at her walls when he had no one else to play with but added “that’s the only bad thing I can think of about Lucas.”

“Lucas helped during Covid. I guarantee you he is not into this betting thing. It’s not in his character or his family’s. His grandparents, his parents, his uncle… all of them are good people. It’s absurd this is happening to him in the best moment of his career.”

Clearly, the consensus among the locals is that the Brazilian isn’t the type to risk his career, in the sport that means everything to him, just to make himself some money. Nor would he want any involvement in making anyone else money in these illegal ways.

Fortunately, even if the accusations were true, which we have no proof that they are, it’s nearly impossible to prove West Ham’s No.10 had anything to do with it. Unless there are, for example, text messages of him clearly saying he’s going to purposefully get booked, the enquiry will not be able to provide substantial evidence.

Overall, this investigation could actually work out in the Hammers’ favour. With it looking unlikely that there will be anything to prove guilt, hence why the meeting was delayed three weeks, the chances of the player moving to a new club is extremely slim. On top of this, Paqueta is evidently happy to play for West Ham as well as give his all for the badge, and that’s all you can ask for; a true professional.

By Charlie Bass