West Ham United were due to take on Newcastle United in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon that would have pitted new signing Lucas Paqueta against close friend and international colleague Bruno Guimarães.
The Hammers were due to face the Magpies but following the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday, all matches this weekend were postponed, from the Premier League all the way down to grass roots level.
For West Ham’s new £36.7million signing Paqueta (potentially rising to £52.7m after add-ons), it means the friendly wager he has with Newcastle star and close friend Guimarães will have to be put on pause for now.
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The former duo are close friends and have been since their time together at French club Lyon, with Guimarães departing France in January and Paqueta leaving there last month. Paqueta has even asked Guimarães to be the godfather to the child his girlfriend is currently expecting.
Along with Real Madrid’s Vinicius Jr, who Paqueta grew up alongside back in Brazil, Paqueta has revealed that Guimarães is one of his best friends in football.
“We had a bet with each other that the loser has to buy dinner — dinner in London, because we already had dinner in Newcastle,” Paquetá told The Times.
“Bruno and Vinicius Jr [the Real Madrid winger] are my two best friends in football. I’ve known Vini since we were 10, at Flamengo, and me and Bruno built this amazing friendship at Lyon and became really close. It seems like yesterday we were playing video games together and talking about what it would be like if we ever played against each other. And soon it will happen.”
The friendly bet will have to wait until later in the season but Paqueta has revealed that prior to swapping eastern France for East London, he consulted his international colleague and close friend.
Guimarães spoke highly of the Hammers and Paqueta joked that they would be an ever tougher test with Paqueta now at David Moyes’ disposal.
“Bruno told me the Premier League is a great competition and was very complimentary about West Ham,” Paqueta added.
“He told me it was a great club and difficult to play against. I just joked and said, ‘They’ll be even more difficult when I am there.’ ”
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