Pundit Shaka Hislop has claimed that Manchester City could ramp up their efforts to sign Lucas Paqueta as a result of Kevin De Bruyne’s latest injury blow.
The Citizens have been linked with a move for the West Ham United midfielder recently and despite seeing a £70m verbal offer turned down, they are apparently preparing a new official offer for the player.
However, the club were dealt a blow to one of their current midfielders after De Bruyne suffered a hamstring injury in City’s 3-0 win over Burnley, which will now keep him out of action for the next four months.
This has now led to one pundit sharing his thoughts on the matter.
Hislop says De Bruyne injury could impact Paqueta chase
peaking in a recent video on the ESPN FC YouTube channel, Hislop had this to say about De Bruyne’s injury and what that could mean for City’s pursuit of Paqueta and their title chances.
He said: “I think City are probably best equipped to cope with his absence and this is even with the departure of [Ilkay] Gundogan.
“You expect between now and the end of the month they’ll step up their interest in Paqueta. No, it’s not like-for-like, but as squads go, I don’t think there are any more deeper or talented than Manchester City.
“So, as of right now, one game into the season, even with this news, I’m still sticking with my original pick of City to win the title.”
Bearing in mind how Paqueta ended his debut Premier League season with the highest rate of goal-scoring actions per 90 minutes (0.5) at West Ham, this puts him in a similar light as De Bruyne, who also ended the previous domestic campaign with the highest rate of goal-scoring actions per 90 minutes (1.15) in City’s squad.
Described as having “unreal” skills by Vladimir Coufal, Paqueta could be an ideal player for the Citizens to bring in while their Belgian star is out of action, in our opinion.
Moving forward, regardless of what impact De Bruyne’s injury may have had, we feel that the treble winners should do all they can to land a deal for the Brazilian as soon as possible.
