How Lucas Paqueta evolved to become West Ham's primary creator
It would’ve been easy for Lucas Paqueta to have a dip this season following an impressive debut campaign in the Premier League.
The West Ham attacker was reportedly close to joining Manchester City before the move collapsed. It was then revealed that the former Lyon maestro was being investigated concerning potential betting breaches.
A failed big-money move to the champions and off-field distractions could’ve easily disrupted his 2023/24 campaign. But it hasn’t.
If anything, he’s actually stepped his game up.
Paqueta has already surpassed his assists haul for last season in the Premier League. He set-up three goals for West Ham in their 3-0 win over Wolves on Sunday, a result that lifted them into eighth place in the Premier League. The treble took his tally of assists for the campaign to four.
The 26-year-old has seen his role tweaked by David Moyes. Whereas last season he primarily played in central areas, most of his minutes this time around have come from the left side of the pitch.
Against Wolves, Paqueta was part of a front three alongside Jarrod Bowen and Mohammed Kudus. It was a productive day for the trio with Bowen notching his 10th of the campaign while the former Ajax man found the back of the net on two occasions.
In his post-match interview, manager David Moyes praised his Samba star, saying: "He’s a special player. I’ve not had a huge amount of special players with that amount of talent.
"There’s a bit of leeway we have to give him. As I’ve got a bit older I’ve realised when they have that talent you have to let them flourish. But his work rate as well for the team has been excellent."
The 42-cap international hasn’t been completely unshackled from the defensive burden of a Moyes system, but the role change has given him a little more freedom.
For example, he’s more involved now, especially in final-phase situations. Last season, he averaged 40 passes per 90 in the Premier League. Now he’s averaging close to 50 in the English top flight. As a result of this, his key passes on a per 90 basis have spiked. It was 1.1 last term and now he’s averaging 1.4. The difference might seem minimal but over a 38-game campaign, that is an extra 11 more shot-creating actions. It doesn’t necessarily mean it will result in more goals, but there will certainly be more goalscoring opportunities and Paqueta will be responsible for them.
Interestingly, he’s averaging fewer shots this term but he’s attempting more dribbles and playing more key passes. The number off accurate through balls has also increased from three to nine, that more than any other player in the Premier League this season. That points towards him evolving into more of a creator for this team and this is backed up by his numbers.
Shots are down but his Expected Goals average has only taken a small hit (down to 0.12 per 90 from 0.15). For context, his Expected Assists average has almost doubled, from 0.1 to 0.18, per Opta. Paqueta has cut out low-value attempts and he’s benefitting as a result of this, as are West Ham as a team.
The changes have been a success. His average WhoScored rating for the campaign in the Premier League (7.21) is significantly up from what it was last season (6.97). He’s fully acclimatised to the rigours of the English league and it will be interesting to see how he finishes the 2023/24 campaign. It will also be interesting to see which clubs might be in for him, as Manchester City could do with a player like Paqueta right now with their bid to retain their Premier League title faltering. They aren’t the only ones who could do with a player of Paqueta’s talents though.
