Newcastle United tipped to ‘easily’ sign Bruno Guimaraes ally in £33.9m deal – ‘we have the money’
Newcastle United could “easily” sign Lyon midfielder Lucas Paqueta this summer.
That’s according to former West Ham hitman Frank McAvennie, speaking exclusively to Football Insider after a dazzling display from the Brazil international.
Paqueta, 24, scored and provided an assist for Bruno Guimaraes as Brazil beat Bolivia 4-0 on Tuesday (29 March).
Guimaraes also provided the assist for Paqueta’s goal.
The duo spent a year and a half together at Lyon before Guimaraes moved to St James’ Park in January.
According to Le10Ssport (21 December), Newcastle offered Lyon €40million (£33.9million) for the Brazilian ahead of the January transfer window and McAvennie claims the club will return for him in the summer.
“If Newcastle want to sign him, they won’t need Guimaraes to speak to him,” McAvennie told Football Insider correspondent Ben Wild.
“He’s his mate, he might sound out if he is interested because Guimaraes has had such a good start to life at Newcastle.
“But Newcastle don’t need to go through the back door to get these deals done.
“They have the money to just say to Lyon, ‘we have the money’. Maybe they want Guimaraes to give them the sign that Paqueta is open to coming.
“They don’t want to offer the money for the player to then turn them down.
“This is one they can do easily, they have the money to do it. €40million is nothing to them.”
Guimaraes has made eight appearances for Newcastle United, scoring one goal.
Paqueta has made 34 outings for Lyon this season, scoring nine goals and providing five assists.
In other news, pundit issues verdict on Newcastle signing Darwin Nunez after £55m early talks.