New headache for Brazil; besides Neymar’s injury, the star player who could miss Copa America due to an absurd reason

Neymar Jr. will not be playing for the Brazilian national team this summer in the Copa America 2024. The Brazil fans have already processed the news that Neymar wouldn’t be able to play for them since he suffered an ACL injury last October and was diagnosed to miss the tournament. What many Brazilian fans now worry about is that one of their other star players could also miss out on the tournament for a bizarre reason. Matt Hughes from the Daily Mail reported that West Ham United’s Lucas Paqueta is set to be charged by the English FA for violating betting regulations. The Brazilian player has until June 3rd to provide a response to this charge. What is unclear is if he will be able to play in the Copa America since this could prevent him from playing football for more than six months.

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The official statement from the English FA read, “The player [Paqueta] has been charged with four breaches of FA Rule E5.1 in relation to his conduct in the club’s Premier League fixtures against Leicester City on 12 November 2022; Aston Villa on 12 March 2023; Leeds United on 21 May 2023; and AFC Bournemouth on 12 August 2023. It’s alleged that he [Paqueta] directly sought to influence the progress, conduct, or any other aspect of, or occurrence in these matches by intentionally seeking to receive a card from the referee for the improper purpose of affecting the betting market in order for one or more persons to profit from betting.”

Paqueta posted his reaction to the charges on his social media pages and mentioned how he was surprised to receive them. The Brazilian midfielder wrote, “I’m extremely surprised and upset to see that the FA have decided to charge me. For nine months, I’ve cooperated with every step of their investigation and provided all the information I can. I deny the charges in their entirety and will fight with every breath to clear my name. Due to the ongoing process, I will not provide any further comment.”

Another issue this could lead to is Paqueta’s potential move to Manchester City this summer. The English champions and Pep Guardiola were really interested in signing the Brazilian midfielder from West Ham United this summer, but with him potentially getting banned like Newcastle United player Sandro Tonali, the move could be off.

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Lucas Paqueta made the Brazil list for the Copa America

A couple of days ago, the Brazilian national team revealed the 23-man list of players going to the Copa America 2024. Paqueta is one of five midfielders that were called up for the tournament. With this new issue, Brazil may consider calling up a midfielder to replace him this summer. Brazil has already added three more players to make it a full 26-man list. One of the players to join the national team is Ederson from Atalanta, who is a midfielder.