The Sports Buff ⚽️ ⚾️ 🏈

Paolo Di Canio, Dimitri Payet, Felipe Anderson, Carlos Tevez, Manuel Lanzini, Said Benrahma and now Lucas Pacqueta. It’s fair to say that The Hammers have had some very talented ‘flair players’ on their books.

Although you might disagree with me about some of the players I have listed, I know you won’t disagree with them all. These players are examples of creative players, who got fans off their seats, like your Eric Cantona’s of this world.

The modern-day game is associated with being almost chess-like (thanks, Pep!). But in the good old days, when Manchester United were the kings of the Premier League, this coincided with players like Jay-Jay Okocha setting the Premier League alight.

West Ham admirably managed to find some wonderful playing tonight, who lit up matches, which in my humble opinion makes football the spectacle it is. Sadly for the East London side, Pacqueta, formerly of Lyon as well, is completing his return to Flamengo of his native Brazil for some £35.5 million.

For the 28-year-old, this is where it all began: the French giants Lyon came calling. Reminsicing of Pacqueta’s European journey, the story gets tinged with a bit of sadness.

After performing very well for West Ham United, bigger clubs came calling, in the shape of Manchester City. Sadly for the Brazilian, the move didn’t happen due to him being investigated for betting offences, allegedly.

I say allegedly, as after two long years, Lucas Pacqueta was cleared of wrongdoing. The news was bittersweet. On one hand, it was good to know he was cleared of wrongdoing, but on the other hand, Man City pulled out of a deal and had turned to other targets. Who is going to get them back?

The answer was no one, and Pacqueta was left to wonder what if. This failed transfer, and the wrongful accusation of taking part in betting offences led the player to yearn for the home comforts of Brazil, which, with Flamengo, he got. This story wasn’t supposed to end like this, oh, what could have been.