Exclusive: Insider shares real reason '£80m' Man City transfer collapsed

West Ham star Lucas Paqueta saw an £80million move to Man City fall through due to betting allegations, according to the club’s former scout.

Mick Brown, who worked at the London Stadium until June when he departed alongside David Moyes, exclusively told Football Insider that the club would have to question how nobody knew there was an issue with the Brazilian.

Paqueta, 27, was first accused of misconduct in August 2023, during which time he had been widely expected to make the move to join Pep Guardiola’s side.

He was charged in May with “intentionally seeking to receive a card”, and reports have now claimed that the FA are seeking to impose a lifetime ban should he be found guilty.

As a result, Brown previously told Football Insider that the Hammers have already begun drafting a shortlist of possible replacements.

Now, though, he has questioned how the club allowed such an issue to go under the radar in similar circumstances to what happened with Sandro Tonali at Newcastle.

The Italian midfielder arrived at St James’ Park from AC Milan last summer before being served with a ten-month suspension for betting violations.

Lucas Paqueta missed out on £80m Man City deal with West Ham

With calls for Paqueta to be banned for life, West Ham could lose one of their most important players having already missed out on a significant transfer fee because of the situation.

Brown, who remains well-connected across the game after his time with Man United, Aston Villa and more, insisted that clubs are no longer doing the proper due diligence before completing transfers, leading to incidents like this.

“I was told there was an £80million deal going on with Man City,” he told Football Insider.

“That failed as a result of the accusations against him.

“So somebody at the club has to question how it was that they didn’t know that there was an issue.

“The same thing happened with the Italian midfielder at Newcastle [Tonali].

“It’s a growing issue I’ve got that transfers seem to be made without the proper due diligence being done behind the scenes.

“If you’re missing out on an £80million transfer fee because of something like this…

“It’s even more of a concern, of course, if he now gets a lengthy ban.

“You’ve missed out on a big-money sale and then the player gets taken away, essentially, without anything coming the other way.

“How did the FA know enough to investigate but West Ham didn’t? You have to ask real questions of the club in that situation.”

In other news, West Ham were offered a Man United star for a bargain price.

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