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West Ham’s Lucas Paqueta has been charged with misconduct over alleged breaches of betting rules.
Paqueta, who strongly denies all allegations, has been hit with four charges, which relate to Rules E5 and F3, concern matches against Leicester City on 12 November 2022; Aston Villa on 12 March 2023; Leeds United on 21 May 2023; and AFC Bournemouth on 12 August 2023.
An FA statement states that the Brazil international is alleged to have “directly sought to influence the progress, conduct, or any other aspect of, or occurrence in these matches by intentionally seeking to receive a card from the referee for the improper purpose of affecting the betting market in order for one or more persons to profit from betting.”
The Brazilian midfielder strongly refuted the allegations in a statement: “I am extremely surprised and upset that The FA has decided to charge me.
“For nine months, I have cooperated with every step of their investigation and provided all the information I can. I deny the charges in their entirety and will fight with every breath to clear my name. Due to the ongoing process I will not be providing any further comment.”
There are further charges relating to two alleged breaches of “FA Rule F3 in respect of alleged failures to comply pursuant to FA Rule F2,” with Paqueta tasked with responding to the charges before 3 June.
Paqueta enjoyed a fine season for West Ham, scoring four goals and making six more in the Premier League, with four goals added during the Hammers’ Europa League run.
Before his departure at the London Stadium, David Moyes hailed Paqueta’s character at the start of the campaign, picking the Brazilian to play last August after an FA investigation opened.
Moyes said: “He’s a solid and tough character, so no problems. I thought 65,000 people stood to their feet and applauded him the whole game because of what he did.
“He went the whole way, played as well as anybody, showed character, never hid away from the ball ever. His performance was very, very good, especially in the second half. He’s just a very good player.”
