Lucas Paqueta maintains that he is “happy” at West Ham despite some believing his head is already elsewhere.

As entertaining as he can be, sometimes watching Lucas Paqueta play can be incredibly frustrating. You know exactly how good he can be, he has world-class qualities, but when he’s not up for it he is incredibly poor.

Unfortunately, as of late, we’ve seen less of the confidence-full, showboating, brilliant Paqueta and more of the infuriatingly bad Paqueta. Obviously every player has dips in forms, but this is different. He doesn’t look himself, he goes missing in games and is a shadow of the player we saw just a few months ago.

Some fans have speculated that this is due to his potential transfer to Manchester City. Last season’s treble winners were keen on signing the Brazilian in the Summer, but the move was abruptly stopped due to him being caught up in a betting scandal. It is expected that the Citizens will come back in for him this year, and this could have potentially made him lose motivation to play for the Hammers.

Unsurprisingly though, the midfielder has been keen to state that he is fully focused on doing his best for West Ham and that the City drama is all in the past. “I have to do my work here at West Ham,” Paqueta said when speaking to ESPN. “I have an enormous respect for the club. I’m very happy here, and if I don’t say that, I’d be lying.”

“Of course, there are a lot of things happening off the pitch but I am focused on doing my best and end the season on a high. I started well and intend on finishing [the season] well. What has been said about Man City is all stuff from the previous transfer window. Now it’s about finishing the season and to wait and see what will happen.”

No matter what’s truly going to happen, Paqueta has been nothing but respectful to the club. He has repeatedly confirmed how delighted he is to be playing in claret and blue. Hopefully his performances start reflecting that again before the end of the season.