Would be like another Philips & Nunes kind of signing. Would David Silva, Ozil or Bernie be playing at West Ham, Everton or Southampton at age of 26?
Surely some other team would had signed him if not us if he was really a world beater.
I strongly disagree and that's with knowing Paqueta (West Ham) is turning 27 just after the start of next season, that's one of your teams listed by the way...
Virgil van Dijk (Southampton) that's 2 out of 3 teams you mentioned but he was actually older while at Southampton too...
Fernandinho was even older at 28 and still playing in a piss poor Ukrainian league, which was quite frankly a one team league for his entire time at Shakhtar Donetsk... Before that he played for an average mid table club if they were lucky in Brazil.
Tony Book was 30 before ever playing in the English football league, before that non league at Bath he never made his top flight debut until just before he turned 32... Yet was still was good enough to be captain of a team that won 4 major trophies, plus a charity shield in just under two years while also winning the FWA (football writers award) player of the year.
There have been other players his age and older from long ago or our more recent history too, players like Lescott
(Everton) or Barry
(villa) that's 3 and and an extra 4th one too at 26 or older.
There's plenty of others too but those last couple are more recent English examples, I'm guessing you're classing WHU as a lessor team but both Lescott and Barry's teams were no better... Just remembered Jesus Navas was 28 and although he wasn't as good as expected G/A wise and Sevilla were on the slide, that still didn't stop him from massively contributing to our teams success on the pitch just with effort alone.
Was your opinion any different when we signed Akanji aged 26 only a couple years back? Age isn't the issue having a strong mentality with a willingness to work hard and good quality is.
Lucas Paqueta possesses all that he was easily Lyon's best player and only left AC Milan before that because they needed money, you must realise the EPL is enjoying a an era of prosperity where even some of the worst teams can afford potentially great players, quite reminiscent of Serie A during the early 90s when every team had the budget for a truly top player.
Paqueta is far from old his very best years in football are certainly ahead of him, he's a very talented player with a lot of quality along with a determined attitude, which fits nicely with this club just as long as he's cleared of all charges. With much better players around him he'll definitely shine for any top team, if he joins us or another one when leaving WHU he'll be a great signing for someone.
Nobody should be underestimating Lucas Paqueta, definitely not based on the club he's playing for at aged just 26.