Aston Villa have been credited with an interest in West Ham’s talisman Lucas Paqueta
Graham Potter has effectively ended talk of star man Lucas Paqueta joining Aston Villa on transfer deadline day.
The Brazilian surprised many by not only playing but starring in West Ham’s 3-0 win at Nottingham Forest, after reports emerged on Saturday that he didn’t want to feature with his future up in the air.
However, the quality of his display and his celebration of his late penalty when he went through a rehearsed routine, first mimicking a telephone call and then making a ‘throw away’ gesture before kissing the Hammers’ badge, seemed to close down the prospect of him coming to Villa.
His manager pretty much completed the job when he said after the match: “It’s external noise, that’s what it is,” he said.
“You can see from his performance today how committed he is, how much he cares for the team, how much he cares for his team-mates, how much he’s fighting and I’m delighted for him.
“You have to deal with a lot of nonsense in this league and that’s the case for every team, especially at this time of the year.
“But we’re looking forward to the window shutting and everything going away a little bit.”
Asked if he could see Paqueta staying at the club Potter said: “Yes, absolutely.”
In the last couple of days Villa became linked with the attacking midfielder, although the suggestion of a £60million transfer always made that very unlikely.
Unai Emery does, though, want to strengthen his team before the window shuts at 7pm on Monday, September 1.
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