West Ham suffer ultimate blunder with email to fans over Man City ‘sale’

As if Wednesday's news surrounding Lucas Paqueta wasn't rough enough for West Ham supporters, the club also scored an unwitting own-goal with their fans.

Hours before reports emerged that Manchester City had made a £70million approach for the Hammers' Brazil international, supporters received an unwelcome fright in their inboxes. On Tuesday, they had been greeted by a picture of Paqueta with the words 'ON SALE NOW' emblazoned underneath, accompanied by the Man City badge.

It made for a nightmarish turn of events following claims the talented midfielder's head has been turned by City's interest, with West Ham's Premier League season set to kick off at Bournemouth in less than three days. And it seems as though a departure is inevitable at some stage as it's emerged he has an £85m release clause that's due to kick in next summer.

Adding insult to injury for West Ham fans was the untimely email from the club admins announcing tickets were on sale for the home clash against title-holders City on September 16.

READ MORE: Man City 'turn Lucas Paqueta's head' as secret buyout clause emerges

David Moyes and West Ham are eager to keep hold of Paqueta after already selling one treasured member of their midfield this summer. Captain Declan Rice joined Arsenal in a club-record £105m deal, but losing Paqueta in the same transfer window may be too seismic a shift in a short space of time.

West Ham's admins do deserve some reprieve given the fixture announcement email did the rounds hours before the Paqueta reports broke. However, that didn't prevent fans from reacting with a mixture of disgust and desperation at the graphic.

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"You can take Rice, you can take Scamacca, but leave Lucas alone," wrote one supporter in an impassioned plea for City to back off. "This is literally bullying."

"Right who’s bantering us at the club," joked another. Others, though, tried to put a positive spin on the news of another potential big-money sale in east London, as one fan wrote: "£190m for Rice and Paqueta and we finished 14th last year. You know how good that is?"

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The issue for many West Ham fans is the club being slow to reinvest those funds, despite raking in a nine-figure for Rice alone almost a month ago. Ajax anchor Edson Alvarez is due to be confirmed as a Hammer, however, on Wednesday. While Southampton captain James Ward-Prowse is also close to joining, alongside Harry Maguire of Manchester United.

With those deals in the bag, the pressure at the London Stadium is bound to be alleviated somewhat ahead of the new campaign. However, the team in charge of club emails will have to be extra vigilant for the remainder of the transfer window.

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