Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea wanted to sign Lucas Paquetá from West Ham United in the winter market, however he wanted to go home.
On January 28th, the Brazil international left West Ham and completed a permanent move to Flamengo.
The Brazilian club paid around €42m to West Ham, making him the most expensive signing in South American football. During the long negotiation process, Sport Witness covered Brazilian sources on Tottenham interest.
After completing his return to the Brazilian club, the 28-year-old himself spoke about Tottenham and Chelsea approaches.
“I already had Flamengo in my heart. Tottenham called, Chelsea called,” he said, quoted by Coluna do Fla.
“Tatá said: ‘Chelsea is going to make an offer’. I replied: ‘Okay, and Flamengo?’. The agent said: ‘Is that right?’. I said: ‘Yeah, I don’t want to know. I want to know about Flamengo’.”
The former West Ham man is represented by Roc Nation Sports. Thiago Freitas, their CEO in Brazil, attended a football summit in Cairo this week. This gave Win Win an opportunity to have a chat about some of his clients.
In this report, Sport Witness are focusing on Tottenham and Chelsea’s failure to sign him from West Ham.
Win Win specifically asked the agent whether offers from Spurs and the Blues were financially superior to that proposed by Flamengo. When responding to that, the representative talked about the importance of the financial aspect for his star client.
Tottenham and Chelsea snubbed
Lucas Paqueta
Lucas Paqueta
“Players are not bank managers. Of course, players care about their salaries and contracts, because their careers often end at the age of 35 or 36, with a few exceptions. But at the end of the day, players are human beings, just like us,” he said.
“If you are offered a 10% increase on what you are currently earning, it may not be tempting enough to leave your country, move somewhere else, and start over far from where you were comfortable.”
“They have dreams, they have families, wives, and children, and many ambitions and desires. Therefore, money is a very important factor in a player’s life, but at a certain stage of his career, and at a specific time in his professional life, it’s not the most important factor at all.”