The Football Association (FA) of England charged Lucas Paquetá with betting rule breaches on Thursday (May 23), making the West Ham United midfielder the latest player to join the list. Paquetá, who is a reported target for Manchester City, is accused of influencing the progress and conduct of matches played for West Ham where he has deliberately picked cards from the referees. While the FA has not commented on the punishment yet, Paquetá could be banned from football activities if found guilty by the commission and has a deadline of June 3 to respond.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Paquetá faces FA Charges
The FA charges state that Paquetá tried 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.”
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According to FA, Paquetá has been under suspicion for three matches during the 2022-23 season of the Premier League.
The games were 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.
The midfielder, who has been a hot property in the Premier League for the last few seasons, is a reported target for Manchester City. He came close to a move to the Etihad Stadium last summer, but City cooled their interest in the player. The latest accusations could see the player once again miss out on a big move as teams are unlikely to invest in players that could be banned for a considerable time.
Sandro Tonali of Newcastle United and Ivan Toney of Brentford are the recent examples of players facing such bans.
Tonali was found guilty in betting charges during his time at AC Milan and has been banned for nine months from all football activities which will see him miss the Euro 2024 with Italy.
On the flip side, Toney was banned for nine months which saw him miss the start of the 2023-24 season and only returned to play in January.
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