Lucas Paqueta: West Ham United midfielder Lucas Paqueta is being investigated by the FA for suspicions of breaching betting rules. The Brazilian was being pursued by Manchester City and the deal would have been close soon. However, it fell through at the final stage and this was the reason. Now it has come to light that West Ham’s sponsor Betway were the ones that reported the suspicious activity on their site. The irregular activities were related to West Ham’s match against Aston Villa in March this year.
Lucas Paqueta has become the centre of an investigation led by the Football Association. The head of English football are investigating him over suspicions of breaching gambling rules. Apparently, the first report came from West Ham’s own sponsor Betway. Back in March, during West Ham’s match against Aston Villa, Paqueta received a yellow card. Betway reported that prior to the match, a large number of accounts placed bets on Paqueta being booked in that particular match. The accounts were traced back to the Paqueta Island.
The place is in Guanabara Bay, near Rio de Janeiro. It’s the place where Paqueta grew up and there have been rumours that the accounts belong to the player’s close people. However, the rumours are yet to be proven true. As per reports, the first suspicions arose when the accounts were made and the best were placed. Those suspicions grew when Paqueta was booked in the match. As a result, Betway had to pay the amount to the people holding the particular accounts.
The volume of money involved in the bets has not been disclosed. However, the amount is thought to be significant as the price of his receiving a yellow card had collapsed to odds-on before the match started. This grew the suspicions as Paqueta was booked only three times prior to that in that competition last season. Additionally, Paqueta’s yellow card that day was the only booking of the match. Overall, he was booked nine times last season including all of his club and country matches.
After identifying the irregularities, Betway reported their suspicions and the occurring to the International Betting Integrity Association or IBIA. IBIA it’s a hundreds of bookmakers’ global group that looks over irregularities in the betting industry. After they received the news, they reported everything to FIFA who then passed it on to the FA to conduct an investigation. Manchester City were pursuing Paqueta as Kevin De Bruyne’s temporary replacement. This was after the news broke out that it would take at least 4 months for Kevin de Bruyne to recover.
The deal was close to completion when it rather fell through and the reason was not disclosed. However, later the reason became clear to be the investigation. Paqueta was also named in Brazil’s next month’s World Cup qualifiers squad. However, his name was withdrawn due to the investigation as well. The interim coach Fernando Diniz said, “Paqueta was on the list, he’s a player I like a lot. It’s a time for him to resolve these issues. People need time to sort these issues out.”
