Three Lucas Paqueta bookings are under scrutiny in FA gambling probe including the first match of THIS season
- The FA were conducting a secret five month investigation into Lucas Paqueta
- However, Paqueta’s booking at Bournemouth accelerated their investigation
- Paqueta was booked in all three games that are being investigated by the FA
The FA’s gambling probe into Lucas Paqueta centres on suspicious bets on the Brazilian being booked in three West Ham matches, including their opening game of this season.
Mail Sport has learned that a five-month investigation exploded into life after an integrity alert was triggered on bets for Paqueta to be booked at Bournemouth 11 days ago, which he was in the last minute of the 1-1 draw.
Paqueta was booked in all three games that are being investigated by the FA, which is believed to have caused the 11th-hour breakdown of a £85million move to Manchester City that had been agreed by the clubs.
The first yellow card under scrutiny is understood to be a booking he received for a for a late challenge on John McGinn in a 1-1 draw with Aston Villa on March 11. The second is the one he received for fouling Leeds‘ Crysencio Summerville on May 21.
Mail Sport can reveal, however, that it was the booking Paqueta received at Bournemouth for shoving Illia Zabarnyi and showing dissent to referee Peter Bankes on August 12 that accelerated a previously secret five-month investigation, causing the collapse of the City transfer.
The FA’s gambling probe into Lucas Paqueta (pictured above) centres on suspicious bets on the him being booked in three West Ham matches
Referee Chris Kavanagh pictured handing Paqueta (left) a yellow card during West Ham’s game against Aston Villa at the London Stadium on March 12, 2023
Mail Sport has learned that a five-month investigation exploded into life after an integrity alert was triggered on bets for Paqueta to be booked at Bournemouth 11 days ago
The FA are understood to have been informed of an anti-corruption alert by integrity officials the following Monday morning, and after conducting their own due diligence informed West Ham and Paqueta two days later.
Paqueta’s booking at Bournemouth attracted little attention at the time, but is likely to be intensely scrutinised by fans, integrity officials and lawyers over the coming days and weeks. The 25-year-old had already irritated the referee by committing a foul in the last minute of a game that was petering out into a draw before protesting robustly and earning a yellow card.
Paqueta was not aware he was being investigated at the time of the Bournemouth game despite the fact that inquiries had been ongoing for almost five months. As with last season’s suspicious activity, the Bournemouth bets were traced to accounts registered in Paqueta Island, off Rio de Janeiro.
Sources with knowledge of the investigation have told Mail Sport that the accounts in question have been linked to known associates of Paqueta. The initial probe began when several bookmakers in Brazil received an unusual number of bets on the Brazilian international to be booked against Villa last March, triggering an alert from their integrity monitoring systems.
Anti-corruption officials are then understood to have looked back at previous matches.
Paqueta is understood to have denied all knowledge of the suspicious betting and is confident he has no case to answer. West Ham are supporting him, with manager David Moyes choosing to start him in his side’s 3-1 win over Chelsea last Sunday, when he scored a 90th-minute penalty, but was also booked.
As Mail Sport revealed on Tuesday, however, the club asked the FA to postpone a formal interview with Paqueta which was scheduled to take place on Monday to give them more time to prepare.
West Ham and the FA declined to comment.
He had been poised to join Man City this summer before the deal stalled amid the investigation
