LUCAS PAQUETA is reportedly being investigated by the FA over potential betting breaches.
The West Ham midfielder had been the subject of transfer interest from Manchester City.
City had submitted a £70million bid for the Brazilian earlier in the window.
However, earlier today the deal collapsed due to "confidential" reasons.
And the Daily Mail have claimed the 25-year-old is the subject of an investigation over alleged breaches of football gambling rules, though specifics are yet to come to light.
West Ham are now waiting to see whether he will be charged by authorities.
The FA refused to comment when approached by SunSport.
It is believed that the process is studying bets made in Brazil, not by the player himself, with no bets on his bank statement.
Paqueta is understood to be shocked by these revelations.
Should this issue be resolved, City would still be interested in signing the player, however they have taken a step back waiting for this issue to be resolved.
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Boss David Moyes is set to include Paqueta in his match day squad to face Chelsea in the Premier League on Sunday.
When asked about the latest on Paqueta’s situation during Friday’s pre-match press conference, Moyes said: “I can’t shed any light on it.
“I admitted last week that there has been an enquiry from Manchester City but I have got no more to add to that at this moment in time.”
Paqueta signed for West Ham last summer from Lyon for a club record £51.4 including add-ons – and suffered from injury issues throughout last campaign.
However, he shone in the Europa Conference League, leading the Hammers to their first piece of major silverware since 1980 with Euro glory.
Paqueta has an £85m release clause in his current contract which becomes active next summer.
He played 94 minutes of West Ham's opening 1-1 draw with Bournemouth.
Last season he appeared in 28 Premier League games for the Hammers, scoring four goals and providing three assists.
The allegations come after the FA banned Ivan Toney from football for eight months.
On Toney's case, an FA statement confirmed: “Ivan Toney has been suspended from all football and football-related activity with immediate effect for eight months, which runs up to and including 16 January 2024, fined £50,000 and warned as to his future conduct for breaches of The FA’s Betting Rules.
“The Brentford FC forward was charged with 262 breaches of FA Rule E8 in total between 25 February 2017 and 23 January 2021.
“The FA subsequently withdrew 30 of these breaches and he admitted to the remaining 232.
“His sanctions were subsequently imposed by an independent Regulatory Commission following a personal hearing.
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“He is permitted to return to training only with his club for the final four months of his suspension starting from 17 September 2023.
“The independent Regulatory Commission’s written reasons for these sanctions will be published in due course, and The FA will wait to review them before commenting further.”
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