Lucas Paqueta was cleared of four counts of spot-fixing

The Football Association’s case against Lucas Paqueta has been criticised by the independent commission that cleared the West Ham United player of four charges of spot-fixing.

The full written reasons, published today, said the FA’s decision to call its in-house betting investigator rather than an independent expert as chief witness was “an obvious flaw” in its efforts to prosecute the Brazil international.

Paqueta, 27, was cleared of spot-fixin g by the commission last month, almost two years after the FA first began investigating suggestions that he had deliberately incurred yellow cards.

The commission found it “concerning” that the FA’s lead counsel Jonathan Laidlaw KC said the governing body disagreed with its main witness,

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