West Ham United recently put forward a real statement of intent, as they managed to acquire the services of the highly-rated Brazilian midfielder Lucas Paqueta.
The former Lyon man reportedly drew interest from clubs like PSG, but eventually, it was The Hammers who agreed to pay a club-record fee of £50m with add-ons.
In Paqueta, West Ham have themselves a versatile midfield presence, capable of playing in deeper and advanced roles.
Possessing plenty of flair, the 25-year-old has an eye for incisive passes, which will certainly help the London outfit’s goal-scoring woes as of late.
The former AC Milan player completed his signing a couple of days ago and managed to make West Ham’s bench for the game against Tottenham Hotspur.
Before kickoff, he was paraded around proudly to the London Stadium crowd, after which he assumed his seat on the bench.
The game itself was a cagey affair, although chances fell for either side.
Eventually, Paqueta’s stint on the bench came to a close as he was subbed on for Said Benhrama during the 2nd half.
Aside from some standard passes, there wasn’t much more to his cameo.
And as a result, the attention of West Ham fans on Twitter shifted to an exchange between Paqueta and assistant coach Kevin Nolan.
As seen in these screengrabs, there’s nothing special on display, so what’s with the buzz?
Well, fans were mostly venturing their guesses at what was happening at all since Nolan carries a Scouse accent, while Paqueta is far from familiar with even a standard English one.
Alphonse Areola’s head can be seen peering in, the keeper probably helped translate Nolan’s instructions to the debutant.
Considering that both Nolan and Paqueta are unfamiliar with each other, perhaps the exchange boiled down to a simple instruction of, ‘Go in there and skill it up lad’.
Alas. we’ll never know.
What we do know is that West Ham finally managed to pick up a point at home after earning a draw, which certainly makes it worthy enough of the bubble barrage. Another London Derby awaits the Hammers up next, as they will come up against Chelsea.