Arsenal have completed the signing of Spanish striker Lucas Perez from Deportivo La Coruna for €20 million.
The 27-year-old moves to the Emirates following a two-year spell at Estadio Riazor that started as a loan from Greek side PAOK. The Greeks will share in the spoils of Lucas’ move to England having included a sell-on clause in his contract a year ago.
It’s fair to say Lucas has enjoyed something of a nomadic career so far. Youth football for Alavés, Montañeros and Órdenes was followed by reserve action at Atletico Madrid and Rayo Vallecano. He then moved to Ukraine in 2011, first to Karpaty Lviv before a short ‘nightmare’ loan with local giants Dynamo Kiev.
PAOK rescued Lucas with the offer of a three-year permanent deal in 2013, paying €700,000 for the privilege, then loaned him to Depor within 12 months. The Spanish side then snapped him up for €2 million last summer and he’s since scored 24 goals in 58 league appearances.
Arsene Wenger said of the new arrival, “He’s not only a goalscorer, he’s a guy who combines well with partners, who can give a final ball and makes good runs. He’s got a good eye for goal and had an outstanding season last year.”
Welcome to the Arsenal.
I saw it first…
Lucassssssss PEREZ!!!!
Who Mahrez when we have Perez? COYG!
Who needs Mahrez when we have Perez? COYG!
YESSSSSSSSSS!*Fist pump*A striker at last!
**fist bump followed by an Arsenal secret handshake that makes Pogba jealous and lose form for the rest of his career then causes ManUre go backrupt and drop into the conference for violating FFP rules** it can totally happen ? *grabs coat*
Welcome to the greatest club ever! 🙂
bit underwhelming but I hope he proves me wrong!
I know what you mean but I was a bit worried when we signed El Neny that he wouldn’t be good enough and he totally revived our team after January. Here’s hoping that Lucas and Giroud being rotated can each get the 15+ goals we need from them to make up the deficit of not having an elite goalscorer.
yeah I would love to be proven wrong but after Podolski, Chamakh etc im not very optimistic
But Poldi’s left foot though
not sure why I’m getting thumbed down when there is a good chance I’m right.
Perez is not an elite striker
If you found a tenner, you’d moan that it wasn’t a score
A club with Arsenal’s stature shouldn’t dabble with tenners. Even less should its fans act like we got a 100 (signed Messi). See where I’m going with this?
Nope
Wait for 12 more seasons. You’ll get there…
Ha ha!
It’s because most of us are pleased to have him
Oh, you could be right. Or you could be wrong. You´re at least pessimistic. That´s just plain boring when we sign a striker. Throwing out a prediction on a player is supereasy, no one is going to remember this statement of yours next may when Lucas has scored 25 goals. With 10 assists on top. But you can gloat if you´re proven right and that is exactly what you are waiting for. I know your type and find it tbh … you know…
Funny. Bottom line: I’m quite optimistic about Mustafi. Not so much about Perez. I feel that Arsenal (like the club which made more money than any other club in the League last season, the club which charges more than any other for season tickets and so on) should have gotten a world class player. Let me put it another way: I feel that Özil deserves a Lewandowski or a Suarez in front of him. But hey, you be pissed off at me for wanting better while you’re getting all giddy about a player who has had one decent season. And… Read more »
It’s what you get when you say anything “negative” even if it’s true. Oh well…
Conversely no matter how “positive” things are some people will always complain
because you seem more enthusiastic about a good chance about you being right than about us signing a new forward. you’re being thumbed down for general turdishness basically. you’re a turd.
Very classy!
Vardy wasn’t too.
Commenting anything negative here gets you thumbed down. I agree though, it’s underwhelming and I think it’s unlikely this signing will push us much closer to the title which is what we were all hoping for. Would very much like to be proven wrong, good luck to him.
Xhaka and Mustafi should both improve us, and while Lucas is more of an unknown quantity there’s a fair chance he will too. He is probably worth more than we paid, judging by what everybody else is paying.
Also Holding looks very decent.
OI WENGER SPEND SOME FACKIN MON…
oh
Well let’s hope Lucas can oil the wheels of our attack nicely.
One for the older Gooners, there.
*gets coat*
Can someone please enlighten me? I don’t get it…
Thanks
Lucasoil automotive lubricant. Was big in racing for a bit if I recall.
What shirt number is he wearing?
52
didn’t we retire the 52 shirt in honour of TGSTEL?
i mean if we didn’t then we should have, obviously
How is Nicky doing anyway?
Wolfsberg terminated his contract at the end of last year and apparently Brighton and Norwich are rumoured to be interested in the TGSTEL. My how the mighty have fallen. Has anyone had such a poor post-Arsenal career? Maybe Hleb or Arshavin I guess…
I don’t think he is ready to carry the weight of that number.
Welcome to the Arsenal! I’m sure you’re going to be a vital part in this important season!
Think he’ll take the #9 shirt, or has he done his homework?
Lu-lu
Lu-lu-lu-lu
Lu-lu-lu-lu
Lu-lu Lucas Perez!!!!!
(To the tune of the 90’s dance track ‘no limit’)
stop it, just no…
It was a long time that arsenal presented 2 new signs together posing for pictures, maybe the will first announce theme individually and then they will post the pictures for perez and mustafi together posing in aresnal ground as Icing on the cake. Let wait and see.
Each event signing brings a lot of free publicity, so the club and sponsors take advantage of it to promote themselves and products
Mustafi is with the German squad for internationals, Perez arrived in London last night.
Mustafi is on international duty.
Welcome. On a different note, looks like we’re losing Gnabry to bayern muncheat. Sad though. Gnabry not repaying our faith in him.
Also, why would we try to loan out wilshere?? We lose a creative force in the midfield and our depth isn’t that great anymore.
Santi, Xhaka, Ramsey, Coq, Elneny. Might be best for him as he won’t get enough minutes to get back to his best if he stays.
…until 3 of them break down injured.
That said if jack can be recalled if shit hits the fan id be all for it.
LUCAS. PEREZ. wooOAH. wooOAH. LUCAS. PEREZ
Welcome to THE ARSENAL! It will be totally fuckin’ EXCELLENT!
Let Giroud & Lucas give a good headache to Wenger while they compete to be the best scorer for the club this season. YA GUNNERS YA!
Giroucas?
Luroud?
Man. Not a lot to work with there. Wenger out! How can the club be so insensitive to our needs?!
Oh, wait, may not be on the same time much, eh?
Alecacott? Waluxis? Luxicott?
Hmm. Going to take some work for this one.
Welcome to the Arsenal mate! I wish him well.
Looks like he could be a pr*ck in the ass on the field, from what I saw in the video that Arseblog had shared a few hours ago.
Definitely something we need and have been lacking. Tough characters are the need of the hour at Arsenal.
This could turn out to a be a really good signing.
hi guys, can’t find the video you’re talking about – did he share it on twitter or? Pls I wanna see it.
Still waiting for that one REALLY big signing to give us a chance of finishing in the top four again and quieten the ‘Wenger Out’ clan. Let’s see what the next 33 hours bring.
One down one too go!! Wenger remembered his pin number was 2004
Only £17 million, nah he is not as good as £25 million Bony or £35 Beneteke. Arsenal should be aiming high and be ambitious. Look at Manu, they spent £3 billion pounds the last 3 years and they are in a stratosphere now. Yep, Merse and his mates are right. They should be on our board ffs, wih their vast experience and successful spells in their Management and football careers. But hey, we can only dream about such change as we have to live with the kind of Arsene, Ozil, Sanchez and the rest of the useless bunch. But don’t… Read more »
There’s irony, and there’s IRONY…
Espnfc post?
Impressive sarcasm
Last time we signed a Spanish striker we won the league. Just sayin
great logic
Always nice to see if official, will he take No9? He should..
Welcome to The Arsenal, Lucas!
I think you’ll become Alexis’s new best friend in no time! 😀
“If Perez had Mesut Ozil feeding him crosses and through balls, rather than whichever plodders line up in the Depor midfield each week, one would expect a proportionate leap in the player’s productivity.”
Wonderfully worded quote from last week’s Telegraph. Let’s hope it comes to pass. Welcome, Lucas!
this is a pretty facile cliché often applied when signing players from teams that are in mid-table or lower teams that often just doesn’t come to pass. I remember people saying that Bendtner would be a 20 goal a season striker if we could get him and Cesc playing together on the regular. nope.
I think Lucas will be a very good signing for us though.
Yeah that sneering, condescending quote is a microcosm of what’s wrong with English football journalism.
It’s speculative, devoid of information, and overlooks the work of talented young players like Luis Alberto and Faycal Fajr who helped Lucas get his 17/8.
I am genuinely excited with this signing. And i bet this guy will even get in the spanish team, come this time next year
Cool. Looking forward to seeing him play.
Luck Lucas, He gets to play striker for Arsenal. The assistiest club in the world.
World Class… maybe not, but still one hell of a signing…
With Perez, Welback and Giroud we have three different strikers that provide us with so many options its exciting…
And with stability at the back and a midfield that has talent and competition in equal measure, a surprise is now possible and possible is all i have ever needed as a gunner!
I’m excited like a kid with a Kinder Surprise! You know the chocolate is good but what makes it great is the surprise inside!!! Can’t wait to see him play. Welcome mate!
This guy looks very very good. Very quick, lethal shot and likes to put it about. Fuck Vardy this fella is just what we need. COYG!!
I think we will have the title this time.no vardy no mahrez but we have lucas.you guys can lucas only but i can see him smiling with a trophy in his hands..
I think we will have the title this time.no vardy no mahrez but we have lucas.you guys can see lucas only but i can see him smiling with a trophy in his hands..
Podolski, Benteke, Bony, Perez all done great for lower table teams where the team was built around them. Lets just hope Perez can make the step up to the top with more sucess.
Im excited to see him in action, Hope the boss got this one right.
some of the sentiment I’ve seen seems to be ‘glad it’s not Vardy’ and I have to say this kinda feels like the bottom line on this signing to me.
I’ve linked this before but see this Sid Lowe piece too; he sounds like a genuinely good guy, besides being a well rounded, technically accomplished and hard-working footballer https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2015/dec/21/lucas-perez-deportivo-de-la-coruna-bebeto-record
There are very few world class finishers around today. We just need a competent taker of half chances. After all neither Vardy nor Harry Kane are world class but they can still do a job for their clubs.
I don’t know much about Perez. But if he was on the radar of the likes of Ronald Koeman I suspect he is no mug. And for all we know this could be the first sign of our recent acquisition of the former Leceister City scout taking effect.
I’m sure that these players are going to fit into the system. Some people on here are either very young or have short memories. Apart from Bergkamp, Arsenal have never really signed what some of you are calling ‘world class’. None of the Invinceables were world class until Wenger worked with them. Players like Henry, Vieira, Pires etc etc did not have that lable until the had a few seasons under their belts. I’m sort of surprised as to why you think that AW is going to drop £80m on player. Between Bergkamp and Özil there have not been any… Read more »