Football Daily | Lucas Paquetá is finally released from limbo. But what happens next?

OFF THE SPOT

It’s taken almost two years but the good news is that if you bet on Lucas Paquetá to be cleared of those gambling charges you can finally go and collect. And if the 12 that signifies a hurricane is the highest measure on the Beaufort scale, you can almost certainly bet your bottom dollar that the West Ham midfielder’s sigh of relief upon discovering he had been cleared of spot-fixing accusations registered in the very high teens. Had Paquetá been found guilty of charges he deliberately got booked on multiple occasions so that assorted folk back home in Brazil could make the staggeringly insignificant sums reported to have been involved in this alleged global conspiracy, he was staring straight down the barrel of a lifetime ban from football.

Having faced the possible ruin of his career and livelihood, not to mention the untold damage to his reputation that would have accompanied a guilty verdict, the 27-year-old is now free to continue playing, blissfully unencumbered by the giant boulder he has been carrying around on his shoulders since the accusations were levelled against him by the FA two years ago. And while he got there in the end and all’s well that ends well, it has now been suggested that both Paquetá and his famously litigious employers might now have grounds to sue the FA for both legal costs and the loss of tens of millions incurred by the entirely-related collapse of the player’s £85m move to Manchester City, shortly after the investigation was announced.

“Since the first day of this investigation, I have maintained my innocence against these extremely serious accusations,” said Paquetá, who has been found guilty of two lesser charges of failing to cooperate fully with the investigation. “I can’t say anything more at this time, but I would like to express how grateful I am to God and how eager I am to return to playing football with a smile on my face.” Having given Paquetá their full support throughout his lengthy ordeal, West Ham will also be looking forward to seeing one of their best footballers back to his stress-free best, even if the smile on his face morphs into a rictus grin when he remembers he’s contracted to West Ham.

Rumours abound that the Hammers may decide to cash in their chips while the player retains his value and there ought to be no shortage of takers at a decent price, albeit one around half that they negotiated with City. The smartish money currently suggests Paquetá could end up at Newcastle, who currently own more goalkeepers than midfielders but are rumoured to be on the verge of being forced into accepting a large windfall of their own. Place your bets.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“I am urging Jason Whittingham once again to just sign the damn paperwork. This state of affairs shows exactly why we need the new football regulator” – Lizzi Collinge, Labour MP for Morecambe and Lunesdale, makes a desperate plea to the Morecambe FC owner to sell up, after shareholders said it would “officially shut” and face “total collapse” in 72 hours without an 11th-hour takeover.

Mazuma Stadium, home of Morecambe. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

In today’s Rumour Mill, the author labelled Kieffer Moore as ‘prolific’ due to his record of 60 goals in 203 Championship games. It is hard to detect irony or sarcasm in the written form, and with no use of italics or other such such writing tropes, one had to take the sentence seriously. His goalscoring record, although not shabby, can’t be termed as prolific. At an average of one goal every 3.4 games, extrapolated across a full Championship season, works out at just 13 goals for the league campaign after 44 matches. If that is now prolific, then going by the Moore Goals Ratio Method, my 14 goals in the 1990 season of the Primary 5 Glasgow School League also meant I had a prolific year” – Paul ‘Goals’ Kenealy.

If you have any, please send letters to [email protected]. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’ the day is … Paul ‘Goals’ Kenealy. Terms and conditions for our competitions, when we run them, are here. Which you’ll need for next week when we’ll have prizes back once again.

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