After weeks of negotiations, West Ham are finally set to give in and sell Lucas Paquetá back to his boyhood club Flamengo.

The Rio de Janeiro side are desperate to secure the signing of the 28-year-old attacking midfielder and have been trying for weeks.

They have reportedly put in an offer of €41m or £36m for the player. The Hammers originally wanted the player back on loan for the rest of the season. However, after Flamengo’s refusal the Hammers are now open to selling him without getting him back.

However, the £36m still isn’t enough, David Sullivan is demanding a £40m package. We are now reportedly willing to accept the extra £4m in add-ons. According to plenty of reports, a deal could be wrapped up as soon as today.

So, let’s say we get £36m + £4m in add-ons, I think that’s a fair enough deal. Paquetá only wants to move to Flamengo, and they know that, so we knew we were never going to get £50m, but £40m for a player that really doesn’t make a huge impact is decent.

It will allow us to spend that money on two players. With Adama Traoré looking like he’s set to sign, we now need to sign a central defender and a creative midfielder to replace Lucas.

Ideally we can sign someone like Charlie Cresswell or Isak Hein, two players we have been linked with. Cresswell will probably be too expensive, but, the latter could be available on loan with an obligation to buy if we stay up.

This would leave us with quite a bit of money to spend on a replacement for the Brazilian.

We haven’t really been linked with too many attacking/creative midfielders yet which is worrying.

Fernandes is obviously going to take up that role as a starter, maybe he won’t be as attacking as Paquetá, but Fernandes will take the role as the main man in there.

We do need someone that can deputise when he’s injured and needs a rest, or even play alongside Fernandes, because he is best as a box-to-box midfielder.

It will be interesting to see what Nuno and the board do to replace him. I’m worried we won’t replace him, because our midfield is so strong at the moment.