West Ham to appoint lawyer who keeps beating Premier League for Lucas Paqueta case
West Ham's Lucas Paqueta could face a lifetime ban from football ahead of a hearing into his betting breaches but the Hammers have hired a top-drawer lawyer to fight their case
by Samuel Meade · The MirrorWest Ham have turned to a lawyer who has thwarted the Premier League on numerous occasions as they look to fight Lucas Paqueta's potential lifetime ban from football.
The Hammers playmaker is facing serious allegations but has protested his innocence throughout with the FA investigating suspicious betting patterns surrounding bookings he received whilst playing for the London club several seasons ago. He was also charged with several counts of spot-fixing last May.
West Ham have now employed Nick De Marco KC as they look to clear Paqueta of four counts of spot-fixing. De Marco has several big wins over the Premier League on his CV, the most recent of which saw Leicester dodge a charge back in the summer, report The Sun.
The barrister persuaded an independent panel that the Premier League had no right to charge Leicester with PSR breaches for the 2022/23 season given they had been relegated to the Championship by the time they filed their accounts. If the Foxes had been found guilty they would've been deducted seven points.
It left Premier League chiefs stunned and De Marco also got the better of them in arbitration hearing to push through the Saudi Arabian purchase of Newcastle three years ago.
In the past he has also taken on the Football League has helped both Sheffield Wednesday and Derby avoid and reduce points deductions amid accusations of spending breaches.
Paqueta could now be his latest success with the Hammers playmaker being looked at by the FA. The governing body are reportedly pushing for Paqueta to be banned for life, despite the fact that one of the bets placed on him to be booked was worth just £7.
Roughly sixty people in Brazil placed bets on Paqueta to be booked in the games that are being investigated. The money put ranged from just £7 to £400, leading to combined winnings of £100,000.
The Brazilian's investigation is understood to have thwarted a potential move to Manchester City last summer. The playmaker has been hugely influential since swapping Lyon for London and Pep Guardiola was keen on a move, but the champions opted against pursuing it.
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