After weeks of talks, Flamengo have completed the signing of West Ham midfielder Lucas Paquetá.

The Brazilian midfielder arrived for a fee of €43m + €17m in add-ons in 2022, and is set to leave for a fee of €42m with the majority of that up front.

Considering what’s happened in Lucas’ three and a half years at the club, and considering he only wanted to move to Flamengo, this isn’t a bad deal for the club at all.

However, let’s park the finances for now, let’s reflect on Lucas’ time at London Stadium, how will he be remembered.

Me personally, I’d put him on a similar level to how I remember Marko Arnautovic. Similar level of player, maybe Arnie was slightly better. H

owever, Lucas makes up for that and maybe even more for being a crucial part of our Conference League win in 2023

However, both players were constantly looking for a way out, and were convinced to stay on multiple occasions. for different reasons, but still, there was times in their Hammers careers where they didn’t want to be here.

I don’t think we saw the best of Lucas Paquetá at all, he had the potential to be a lot better than Arnautovic in Claret and Blue.

But with the form of the team, the wont managers, and the FA gambling investigation especially really took its toll on Lucas.

It’s a real shame he didn’t show his true potential in claret and blue. We saw his talent at times – the pass for Bowen in the Conference League, the assist for Bowen against Luton last season in the Premier League, and even the screamer against Chelsea at the start of this.

Paquetá gave us some special moments, but on too many occasions he wasn’t good enough. Before his assist against Brighton in December. Paquetá hadn’t managed an assist in 43 Premier League matches, that is nothing short of pathetic for an attacking midfielder of his talent.

If it was the summer window, I really wouldn’t be too gutted that he’s gone. However, because it’s January and we’re in the position we’re in, I would have liked to see him stay for the rest of the season to help us stay up.

But he wanted to go, he didn’t want to be here anymore, he wanted to go home for family and mental health reasons and you can’t really begrudge him for that, he’s been through a lot during his time in London.

We got a decent fee for him, if we spend that money wisely he really won’t be a big miss because his stats and performances didn’t match his talent.

As a player, he was talented but underwhelming, he seems like a likeable character, and he will always have a place in all of our hearts for setting up Bowen in Prague.

For me personally, I wish Lucas the very best at Flamengo, and hope to see him play again starting for Brazil in the World Cup this summer.