West Ham star Lucas Paquetá is still being left out of the national team because of investigations related to gambling.
As Brazil manager Fernando Diniz today called up the new squad, he once again left the midfielder out of the list.
Quoted by ESPN Brasil, the coach explained the situation lived by the West Ham player, making it clear he wanted him to be in the squad.
“He’s a player I consider to be one of the best of this generation and I’d be delighted to call him up. He’d probably have a great chance of playing for the first team because he’s a player I really admire. What we’ve learnt so far is that the investigation is at the same point. It hasn’t been closed and there haven’t been any new facts,” said Fernando Diniz.
“I didn’t call him in order to maintain a coherent and ethical discourse with what I did three months ago when I didn’t bring him in. The desire to bring him in technically is always very strong.”
Paquetá hasn’t played for Brazil since June, when they still had interim manager Ramon Menezes. Fernando Diniz was going to call up the midfielder in his first games in charge, back in September, but the news about the investigation came out minutes before the announcement, and the midfielder ended up being left out.
The national team has been struggling recently and we’ve seen media and fans claiming the West Ham star should have been brought back by now. However, it does look like the coach has been receiving orders not to include him in the squad for now.
