Lucas Tolentino Coelho de Lima (born 27 August 1997), better known as Lucas Paquetá (), is a Brazilian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As #Cent ...

for

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

club

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

and the Brazil national team.

Club career

Early career

Lucas Paquetá arrived at Flamengo in 2007 at the age of 10. At the age of 15, he was very technically skilled but did not have the physicality of other players his age (he was only 5 ft tall). By age 18, however, he had grown 27 cm (10.6 inches). With the Flamengo youth team he won the 2016 Copa São Paulo de Júniores title, the most important youth tournament in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. Alongside other standout players Léo Duarte,

Felipe Vizeu Felipe dos Reis Pereira Vizeu do Carmo (born 12 March 1997), known as just Felipe Vizeu, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Atlético Goianiense. He has been a member of Brazil U20 team with 10 appearances. Car ...

and

Ronaldo Ronaldo is a Portuguese given name equivalent to the English Ronald. It became a common name in all Portuguese-speaking countries, being also prevalent in Italy and Spanish-speaking countries. People Notable people known as Ronaldo include: As ...

, Lucas was promoted the club's professional team right after the competition.

Flamengo

200px, left, Lucas playing for Flamengo in 2018. In March 2016 Paquetá got promoted to Flamengo's professional team and signed a contract extension until 2020. On 5 March 2016, Lucas debuted as a starter in a 3–1 win over Bangu in a 2016 Rio de Janeiro State League match. Paquetá scored his first professional goal on 19 February 2017 in a 4–0 victory against Madureira at the

Estádio Raulino de Oliveira Estádio Municipal General Sylvio Raulino de Oliveira, also known as Raulino de Oliveira, and as Estádio da Cidadania, is a football stadium. It was inaugurated on 14 March 1976 in Volta Redonda, Rio de Janeiro State, and has a maximum capacity of ...

Volta Redonda Volta Redonda () is the name of a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the Rio de Janeiro (state), Rio de Janeiro state of Brazil with an area of 182.81 km2, located from 350m to 707m above the sea level (22°31'23" S, 44°06'15" W) an ...

. Paquetá scored in both the

2017 Copa do Brasil The 2017 Copa do Brasil (officially the Copa Continental AG, Continental Pneus do Brasil 2017 for sponsorship reasons) was the 29th edition of the Copa do Brasil football competition. It was held between February 8 and September 27, 2017. The comp ...

final in a 1–1 draw against Cruzeiro at the

Maracanã Stadium Maracanã Stadium ( pt, Estádio do Maracanã, standard Brazilian Portuguese: , local pronunciation: ), officially named Estádio Jornalista Mário Filho (), is an association football stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The stadium is part o ...

and in the

2017 Copa Sudamericana The 2017 Copa CONMEBOL Sudamericana was the 16th edition of the CONMEBOL Sudamericana (also referred to as the ''Copa Sudamericana'', or pt, Copa Sul-Americana), South America's secondary club football tournament organized by CONMEBOL. Argent ...

final against Independiente, also a 1–1 draw in the Maracanã. In both matches, Flamengo were defeated and were runners-up to their opponents in the competitions. In the Copa Sudamericana final, he was named the best Flamengo player in the match. He finished 2017 being considered by fans to be, alongside

Juan ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, t ...

, the highlight of Flamengo. In the

2018 Campeonato Carioca The 2018 Campeonato Carioca de Futebol was the 115th edition of the top tier of football of FFERJ (Federação de Futebol do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, or Rio de Janeiro State Football Federation). The top four teams in the final standings of th ...

, Lucas Paquetá was chosen as the best left-winger of the tournament and was the only Flamengo player selected to the team of the tournament.

AC Milan

On 10 October 2018, news agencies across Brazil and Italy reported that a €35M deal had been agreed between

AC Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 and 1982–83 seasons ...

and

Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; English: ''Flamengo Rowing Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea, best known for their professional football t ...

for the transfer of player, beating stiff competition from French club

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...

. On 4 January 2019, the transfer was made official, with Milan announcing the player had signed a five-year contract. He chose to wear the shirt number 39. Because of his mother's Portuguese descent, he was eligible for registration as a European player. Paquetá made his club debut on 12 January 2019, playing 85 minutes before being replaced by

Fabio Borini Fabio Borini (; born 29 March 1991) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a winger for Turkish club Fatih Karagümrük. He started his career at Bologna, before moving to Chelsea in 2007. In 2011, Borini joined Championship side ...

as Milan beat

Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s, ...

2–0 in extra time in the

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

. Four days later, Paquetá played in the 2018 Supercoppa Italiana, held at the

King Abdullah Sports City King Abdullah Sports City (Arabic: مدينة الملك عبدالله الرياضية), also nicknamed The Shining Jewel, in Arabic (al-Jawharaa Al-Moshe'ah) (Arabic: الجوهرة المشعة) or simply The Jewel, in Arabic (al-Jawhara) (A ...

Jeddah Jeddah ( ), also spelled Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; ar, , Jidda, ), is a city in the Hejaz region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the country's commercial center. Established in the 6th century BC as a fishing village, Jeddah's pro ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

, where

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

beat Milan 1–0. On 21 January 2019, Paquetá made his

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

debut in a 2–0 win over

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

at the

Stadio Luigi Ferraris The Stadio comunale Luigi Ferraris, also known as the Marassi from the name of the neighbourhood where it is located, is a multi-use stadium in Genoa, Italy. The home of Genoa C.F.C. and U.C. Sampdoria football clubs, it opened in 1911 and is ...

. During the match, Paquetá performed a rainbow flick over opponent

Daniel Bessa Daniel Sartori Bessa (born 14 January 1993) is an Italian Brazilians, Italian Brazilian Association football, footballer who plays as a midfielder for Emirati club Al-Ittihad Kalba SC, Al-Ittihad Kalba. He was called up to the Italy national un ...

, flicking the rolling ball up and propelling it over the head of his opponent. Paquetá scored his first goal for Milan in 3–0 win against

Cagliari Cagliari (, also , , ; sc, Casteddu ; lat, Caralis) is an Italian municipality and the capital of the island of Sardinia, an autonomous region of Italy. Cagliari's Sardinian name ''Casteddu'' means ''castle''. It has about 155,000 inhabitant ...

, scoring the second goal. He dedicated his goal for the victims of a fire at his old club Flamengo, all members of the under-15 team.

Lyon

On 30 September 2020, French club

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

announced the signing of Paquetá, who signed for €20 million on a five-year contract. In the 21/22 season, the midfielder was elected the best foreign player in the French Championship, Ligue 1. The election was carried out by popular vote and was supported by more than 20,000 people. Paquetá, 25 years old, competed with the defender of PSG

Marquinhos Marcos Aoás Corrêa (born 14 May 1994), known as Marquinhos, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a defender for Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain, which he captains, and the Brazil national team. Mainly a centre-back, he can ...

, the marfileño midfielder of Lens Fofana and the Canadian leader of Lille

Jonathan David Jonathan Christian David (born January 14, 2000) is a Canadian professional soccer player who plays as a forward for Ligue 1 club Lille. Born in the United States to Haitian parents, David was raised in Ottawa, Ontario, and represents the Ca ...

West Ham United

On 29 August 2022, West Ham United announced the signing of Paquetá for a club record fee undisclosed by the club. He signed a five-year contract for a fee estimated by the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

to be more than £50m with additional add-ons, beating the fee paid for Sebastien Haller in 2019. He made his West Ham and

debut on 31 August in a 1–1 home draw against

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

. On 4th January 2023, Paqueta scored his first Premier League goal and West Ham goal against Leeds United.

International career

Under-20

150px, Lucas playing for Brazil U20 in 2017 On 1 April 2016, Paquetá was called up for the first time to represent Brazil U20 in two friendly matches in Europe. He scored his first goal in his debut in a 2–1 win against

England U20 England national under-20 football team, also known as England Under-20s or England U20(s), represents England in association football at an under-20 age level and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in En ...

on 4 September. In October 2016, he was called up for the ''Quadrangular de Seleções'' tournament, a friendly round-robin against the U20 squads of

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

, and

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

Under-23

When he was 18, Paquetá was called to practice with the Brazil U23 team in preparation for the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

. Coach

Rogério Micale Mário Rogério Reis Micale (born 28 March 1969), known as Rogério Micale, is a Brazilian professional football coach and former player Career Micale also represented Londrina, Apucarana and Operário Ferroviário before retiring at the age of ...

called some younger players born in 1997 and 1998, including Lucas, to participate in group training in hopes of them eventually competing in the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

in Tokyo. He received his first official call-up to the under-23 team in March 2020.

Senior team

In 2018, he was selected to be one of the twelve alternatives for the Brazil national team by coach Tite for the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...

in Russia. Of the 35 players on the 23-man roster and provisional roster, Lucas was the youngest. On 17 August 2018, Paquetá was called for the first time for the Brazil national team by manager Tite to play in friendly matches against

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

in September. On 7 September, he made his debut with the national team, coming off the bench to replace

Philippe Coutinho Philippe Coutinho Correia (born 12 June 1992) is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or winger for Premier League club Aston Villa and the Brazil national team. He is known for his combination of vision, ...

in the 71st minute during a friendly match against the United States. On 23 March 2019, he scored his first goal in a 1–1 friendly draw against

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

, wearing Brazil's iconic No. 10 shirt. In May 2019, he was included in Brazil's 23-man squad for the

2019 Copa América The 2019 Copa América was the 46th edition of the Copa América, the international men's association football championship organized by South America's football ruling body CONMEBOL. It was held in Brazil and took place between 14 June and 7 ...

. On 2 July 2021, in the

2021 Copa América The 2021 Copa América was the 47th edition of the Copa América, the international men's football championship organised by South America's football ruling body CONMEBOL. The tournament took place in Brazil from 13 June to 10 July 2021. The tour ...

quarter-final clash against

, he came on as a substitute at half-time and scored in the 47th minute to give Brazil a 1–0 win. On 6 July 2021, he once again scored the only goal after an assist from Neymar Junior in the semi-final against

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

. On 7 November 2022, Paquetá was named in the squad for the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international association football, football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022 ...

Personal life

Lucas has an older brother,

Matheus Matheus is a Portuguese given name: Notable people with the name include: * Matheus Aiás (born 1996), Brazilian footballer * Matheus Alessandro (born 1996), Brazilian footballer * Matheus Pucinelli de Almeida (born 2001), Brazilian tennis player ...

, who also plays football. His nickname, Paquetá, refers to

Paquetá Island Paquetá Island ( pt, Ilha de Paquetá) is an island in Guanabara Bay, Rio de Janeiro. The name of the island is a Tupi word meaning "many pacas". The island is an auto-free zone, so travel is limited to bicycles and horse-drawn carriages. Paque ...

and the eponymous

neighborhood A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (American English; see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town, suburb or rural area, ...

he grew up in. He is a big fan of funk carioca and sometimes imitates funk dance steps during his goal celebrations.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Brazil's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Paquetá goal.''

Honours

Flamengo *

Campeonato Carioca The Campeonato Carioca (Carioca Championship), officially known as Campeonato Estadual do Rio de Janeiro (Port., Rio de Janeiro State Championship), was started in 1906 and is the annual football championship in the state of Rio de Janeiro, B ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

Brazil *

Copa América The Copa América ( en, America Cup) or CONMEBOL Copa América, known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship (''Campeonato Sudamericano de Fútbol'' in Spanish and ''Campeonato Sul-Americano de Futebol'' in Portuguese), is the t ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

; runner-up:

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

Individual *Campeonato Carioca Team of the Year:

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

* Bola de Prata:

* Campeonato Brasileiro Série A Team of the Year:

* UNFP

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

Team of the Year Team of the Year may refer to: *BBC Sports Personality of the Year Team Award *Canadian Press Team of the Year Award *GPA Gaelic Team of the Year *IRB International Sevens Team of the Year *IRB International Team of the Year *J.League Team of the Y ...

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

* UNFP Ligue 1 Player of the Month: October 2021

References

External links

Lucas Paquetá
at

West Ham United F.C. West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, h ...

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Paqueta, Lucas 1997 births Living people Footballers from Rio de Janeiro (city) Brazilian people of Portuguese descent Brazilian footballers Association football midfielders Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Serie A players Ligue 1 players Premier League players CR Flamengo footballers A.C. Milan players Olympique Lyonnais players West Ham United F.C. players Brazilian expatriate footballers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in France Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in England Brazil youth international footballers Brazil under-20 international footballers Brazil international footballers 2019 Copa América players 2021 Copa América players 2022 FIFA World Cup players Copa América-winning players