Man City ‘will bid again’ for £110m-rated Prem star, but prepare ‘to move on’ if not accepted soon

Transfer insider Fabrizio Romano has stated Manchester City “will bid again” for Lucas Paqueta, but “will not spend two weeks” trying, and are prepared to “move on” if there’s no agreement soon.

City have made just two signings so far this summer. Pep Guardiola has added Mateo Kovacic into the mix, as a replacement for the departing Ilkay Gundogan, as well as star centre-back Josko Gvardiol.

The formula seems to be to add players who are definitely going to add something to the side in the immediate term. For a side who have won the Premier League three times in a row – as well as the Champions League last season – adding more winners to the side is key to stay very competitive.

They’re looking to add another useful asset in West Ham’s Paqueta. It’s reported the Hammers want £110million for him, having already sold Declan Rice for £105million this summer.

Paqueta is said to have ‘agreed’ to the transfer already, and is waiting on his club to do the same.

Transfer insider Romano suggests City will continue in their attempts to make that happen, but won’t waste the rest of the summer window on it.

“City are still working on the Lucas Paqueta deal. It’s not that easy with West Ham, as always with West Ham. City are still there trying but they will not spend the two weeks until the end of the window working on Paqueta,” Romano said on YouTube.

“So, the Paqueta deal has to be decided this week for City.

“City will try again, City will bid again and then we will see if they can find a way with West Ham, good, they will proceed for Paqueta because the player wants the move, otherwise they will move on other targets.”

With that being said, it seems their next attempt to sign the midfielder may be their last. As such, they’re likely to lodge a bid that’s closer to the Hammers’ valuation than their previous one.

The good thing for City will be that West Ham are not likely to mess them around. They’ll want time to find a replacement if they are to sell Paqueta, so they’ll be straightforward in what they’re asking for, and reject anything below that.

As such, it should be an easy process, but it remains to be seen if City are willing to pay such a large fee after having spent over £77million on Gvardiol already this summer.

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