Brazilian Paquetá in big trouble! Teammate of Soucek and Coufal faces a lifetime ban

Brazilian offensive midfielder Lucas Paquetá repeatedly broke the rules last season and the season before. The teammate of Tomáš Souček and Vladimír Coufal was issued several yellow cards for betting profits and now faces a lifetime ban.

Lucas Paquetá has been a part of West Ham United since the end of August 2022, and since then he has already featured in 84 competitive games in a Hammers jersey.

The 26-year-old Brazilian has notched 13 goals and 14 assists in those games, but in addition to that he has also picked up twenty-one yellow cards. And because of several of them, the teammate of Tomáš Souček and Vladimír Coufal is now in big trouble.

Paquetá has been facing suspicion of illegal betting since last August, but has been the subject of a lengthy investigation since May. As previously reported by the BBC website or Sky Sports, one of West Ham’s sponsors is the Betway bookmaker.

And it was the latter that noticed suspicious betting on yellow cards in matches against Leicester, Aston Villa, Leeds and Bournemouth a few months ago. What’s more, people were betting on these occasions near Rio de Janeiro, not far from where the player was born.

These bets then netted the punters around £100,000, and Paquetá was given the opportunity to comment on the allegations.

“For the last nine months I have cooperated with their investigation every step of the way and provided all the information I had. I totally reject all the allegations and will fight to my last breath to clear my name,” Paquetá said mid last month on Platform X.

If found guilty, the Brazilian footballer could even face a lifetime ban. A total of 60 yellow card bets were reportedly placed. The lowest was £7 and the highest was £400.

Source: BBC, X, Transfermarkt