Midfielder Lucas Paquetá will have his former West Ham manager David Moyes testify at his trial. The charges are about the player’s alleged involvement in sports betting schemes.
According to the English newspaper Daily Mail, Moyes, currently at Everton, is expected to give evidence in defense of the Brazilian player.
The expectation is that David Moyes will contribute to proving Paquetá’s innocence. The player is accused of forcing yellow cards to influence betting results.
According to the English portal, the coach’s statement will specifically address the warning received in the 1-1 draw against Bournemouth, in August 2023.
At that time, Manchester City expressed interest in signing Paquetá, however, allegations emerged that the midfielder had requested to be excused from the match so as not to jeopardize the negotiations.
Moyes, however, explained that he intended to use him while he was a West Ham player, so Paquetá agreed to play on the promise of being substituted.
However, the substitution only took place in the 49th minute of the second half, right after Paquetá received a yellow card for handling the ball, his fourth foul of the match.
During the trial, Paquetá hopes to demonstrate that he was not involved in any betting scheme. The claim is that he did not even want to be on the field in that match.
Paquetá Trial
The English Football Association (FA) is calling for the athlete to be banned from the sport. Paquetá’s trial began last Monday. As the Brazilian national team decided not to call him up for the games against Colombia and Argentina, he will give his statement in person.
The English Football Association’s accusation
Following the accusations in May last year, Paquetá spoke out on social media. He denied the allegations in full, stating: “I am extremely surprised and upset that the FA has decided to charge me.
I have cooperated with every step of the investigation and provided all the information I could during these nine months. I deny the allegations in their entirety and will fight with all my might to clear my name. Due to the ongoing process, I will not be providing any further comment.”
Lucas Paquetá is under investigation by the English Football Association (FA). The investigation is looking into misconduct related to sports betting in four Premier League games, which took place between November 2022 and August 2023.
The games being investigated by the FA include matches against Leicester City on 12 November 2022, Aston Villa on 12 March 2023, Leeds United on 21 May 2023 and Bournemouth on 12 August 2023.
Details of the charges
The FA’s charges, dated back to 2024, allege Paquetá attempted to “influence the progress, conduct or any other aspect or occurrence of those matches by intentionally attempting to receive a card from the referee for the improper purpose of affecting the betting market so that one or more persons could profit from betting”.
According to British newspaper The Sun, all bets were placed from Paquetá Island, in Rio de Janeiro. This is the city where the player was born.
One of the bets that the player would receive a yellow card in one of the matches investigated was for just £7, while the highest bet was £400. With the yellow card received, the bettors’ winnings totalled £100,000.
The Sun noted that in similar cases, the FA handed down a ten-year ban to Stratford Town defender Kynan Isaac and banned Lincoln City’s Bradley Wood for six seasons after he was intentionally booked.
