Lucas Paqueta is going home. After three and a half years, two investigations, one trophy and far too many sleepless nights, the 28-year-old has signed for Flamengo in what amounts to the most expensive transfer in South American football history.
The fee is £35.5 million. Flamengo will pay in instalments through 2028. West Ham wanted him to stay until May. Paqueta said no.
There's something almost poetic about the timing. West Ham, sitting third from bottom with five points between them and safety, have just won three consecutive matches for the first time since November 2023. All three came without Paqueta in the squad. Sometimes, a clean break is best for everyone.
What it cost him
Back in December 2024, while transfer speculation was building, Paqueta quoted a Brazilian gospel song on social media. The lyrics translate roughly as: "I'm not from here. I will return home. He comes to get me and with him I will go."
People noticed. They always do.
What outsiders couldn't see was how much the spot-fixing investigation had taken from him. The FA charged him in May 2024. For two years, the case hung over everything: his career, his form, potentially a lifetime ban. Manchester City had been ready to pay £80 million in 2023. That deal collapsed the moment the charges emerged.
He was eventually cleared last July. But by then, something had shifted. West Ham's official statement didn't mince words: the investigation had caused Paqueta "significant mental strain." He wanted out. He wanted Brazil.
The manager's verdict
Nuno Espirito Santo, to his credit, didn't pretend this was anything other than a loss.
"You cannot replace Lucas because he is unique," he told reporters on Thursday. "He's a number 10 with special qualities. You cannot find many players like Lucas in the transfer window. You cannot."
But Nuno also made clear this wasn't handled perfectly. "In terms of club, it was not the proper way," he said. "Everything could have been different, but the circumstances are what they are."
Translation: the club would have preferred a loan until June. The player forced their hand. Flamengo president Luiz Eduardo Baptista reportedly described the deal as "the biggest transaction ever made by a football club" in South America. He wasn't wrong.
What West Ham lose
The numbers don't capture everything, but they capture a lot. In 139 appearances across all competitions, Paqueta scored 23 goals and provided 15 assists. He was central to the Europa Conference League triumph in 2022-23, one of the club's most memorable European nights in decades. He played 18 Premier League games this season, scoring four times.
More than stats, though, Paqueta brought something difficult to quantify: the ability to make things happen in tight spaces, to receive the ball under pressure and actually do something useful with it. West Ham don't have another player like that in their squad.
They've signed Taty Castellanos and Pablo Felipe this window, along with Adama Traore. None of them do what Paqueta does. None of them were meant to.
What Paqueta gains
In Rio de Janeiro, they're already printing the shirts. Paqueta could feature as early as Sunday in the Brazilian Super Cup final against Corinthians at Mané Garrincha. His contract runs until 2030. The fee breaks every record Flamengo have ever set.
More importantly for him, the World Cup is in June. Playing week in, week out at a club he genuinely loves, rather than grinding through a relegation battle he no longer has the stomach for, gives him the best possible chance of making Dorival Junior's squad.
You don't have to agree with how he handled it. But you can understand why he did.
What happens now
West Ham travel to Chelsea on Saturday evening, five points adrift of safety, trying to extend a winning run built without their most talented midfielder. The transfer window closes Monday. Nuno wants reinforcements. José Boto is working the phones.
Somewhere over the Atlantic, Paqueta is heading toward a stadium that will sing his name louder than the London Stadium ever did. Football moves on. Players move on. Sometimes the money flows in the opposite direction to what we expect.
This one felt inevitable for months. It's still jarring to see it actually happen.
