West Ham have been dealt a huge blow to their transfer budget as Manchester City have all but ruled out a move for Lucas Paqueta this summer due to his betting scandal, according to Football Insider.

According to reports, the Hammers were planning on using the potential £85 million from Paqueta’s release clause to fund the majority of their summer signings.

Just over a week ago, Football Insider reported that the Hammers would have been powerless to resist an approach from the Citizens, with his release clause activating this summer. However, that has all changed since then. On May 23rd, Lucas Paqueta was charged by the FA with misconduct in relation to alleged breaches of FA rules E5 and F3.

It has been reported that the Brazilian could face a ban of up to ten years if found guilty, which would end his top level football career. However, the midfielder has spoken of his disbelief as he plans to plead his innocence before the 3rd of June deadline, which could drag the case on for many more months.

He did get some rare positive news this week, however.

The Brazilian Football Federation (CBF) have insisted the charges will not stand in the way of him representing the National team in the Copa America, which starts in just over two weeks. However, it does seem increasingly unlikely that his dream move to Manchester City under Pep Guardiola won’t happen.

Despite these reports from the Football Insider, the club did in fact plan for if Paqueta was to be charged. Paqueta and the club were made aware of the potential ban ten months ago, so have had a while to plan ahead of the 24/25 season.

The club still have plenty of funds to spend this transfer window, which has been made obvious by the clubs early movements. In recent days, a €30m move for Palmeiras wonderkid Luis Guilherme has been advancing and is now close to completion. The midfielder can play both centrally and out wide, he could both play with Paqueta and cover for either his departure or betting ban.

By Daniel Luker