Lucas Perez wants to leave Arsenal this summer, frustrated at a lack of playing time offered him to him since his move from Deportivo la Coruna last August.
The Gunners paid a not inconsiderable £17m for the 28 year old who had caught the eye with a good La Liga season, but despite scoring a Champions League hat-trick and contributing with other goals and assists didn’t do enough to convince Arsene Wenger to play him more often.
It’s led to his decision to leave the club this summer, and that was confirmed when his agent Rodrigo Fernandez Lovelle spoke to the Press Association.
“The idea is to be able to play for another club,” he said.
“We want to leave and Arsenal already know. Do you know anyone who is happy but has no opportunities?”
It’s a fair point and I don’t think anyone could possibly blame him for wanting to go. He’s a good player but one the manager just doesn’t have enough faith in.
It now remains to be seen how much of the original fee we can recoup, with Sevilla and former club Deportivo said to be interested in bringing him back to Spain.
There were also links to West Ham, so he looks set to be one of our first summer departures.
Shame, I always thought he looked good when he had a chance
Yup, and maybe there was something behind the scenes that we don’t know about. I don’t remember one game where he (individually) let us down, or had a bad game.
The more simple question is Wenger just didn’t fancy him. Turned him down earlier in the window too. We all know Wenger is known for his hierarchy where it’s tough to display his favourites. What’s worse is if you look at recent history, some of our best players have been players Wenger at some point or another didn’t fancy, such as Per and Arteta. But he was desperate and gave them a chance and the surpassed his initial feelings. I just wish he would do the same with Perez. FFS Sanogo got more opportunities then he did. Shoot Theo had… Read more »
Perez has also been hurt often throughout the season. Especially during times when he could have gotten opportunities to play.Unless those injuries were just cover stories, what can you do? Either keep working hard and take advantage of opportunities or move on.
He wasn’t hurt for large spells of the season.
I mean, Welbeck had just regained fitness and was already straight above him in the pecking order.
The reason in simple, he uses too much leftie and Wenger didn’t like it, not his kind of player.
Spot. On.
Van persie could hardly use his right..
The Reyes effect
I’m annoyed about this because he genuinely looked the part most of the time. May want to stifle a move until after Alexis signs his contract extension.
100% agreed. He ticked all the boxes. Most of all, he’s a fighter – talented and aggressive. We need more of that, not less.
It’s strange how Arsene does this. Perez is not dissimilar to Campbell in that he works hard, keeps pressing and is effective going forward. I like him, as I like Campbell also and think they both offer something we may be missing. but hey, what do I know.
Opportunities are up for grab, i am not sure he managed to take his opportunities or imposed himself on the field to force his selection.
Besides it’s not all done and dusted he might not be sold after all, so let AW decide on this, i think he knows one thing or two about football.
Insane purchase if we never had any intention of playing him. Be lucky to get 7m for him now
Or maybe we had every intention of playing him but he just didn’t impress enough in training… Not everyone makes it at this magnificent club.
The guy impressed in games. I don’t know about you, but I think that’s what counts.
I think he did pretty well in games too. Care to offer a reasonable explanation for him not getting more games though? I’m basing it on Wenger seeing the players every day in training and him not being an idiot.
Well, at least the bar has been set for the standard below which, players who slip below, will be moved on!
Jenks, MD, Sanogo, Campbell, Gibbs, Wilshere, plus all the kids except The Jeff, Maitland-Niles, Bielik, Iwobi, Holding and Chambers, must already have their P45’s. Others, such as Theo, Ox, Ozil, Alexis and Giroud will all need replacing if they leave.
So “1 or 2” to improve the squad seems extremely optimistic – or naive!
Sanogo and Theo mustve been monsters in training.
Dude, Theo Walcott has 100+ Arsenal goals, including 19 last season and 21 a few seasons back. I know, his career has been a disappointment given the original high expectations, and I think he should be sold this summer, but don’t put him in the same league as Sanogo. That’s just ignorant.
Kinda missed my point. My point is there’s evidence of lesser players being given more of a chance than others. Campbell for all his flaws was performing better than all our wingers at the time. Yet he still got shipped off. Some would say “well he hasn’t done that great on loan” but I’m willing to bet Theo possibly wouldn’t be that great on loan. Basically, I fail to believe someone who puts so much effort and is known to be one of the hardest workers at his previous clubs would suddenly come here and only work hard in games… Read more »
Best of luck to him though. I like the guy.
Good news, if he couldn’t play last year he wouldn’t this year with Henry the Nigerian and this year’s Higuain/Suarez/Lewandowski added (hahaha) so anything we can recoup is a bonus
Best of luck to you, Lucas! Can’t blame you for wanting to play.
Another mystery. He looks like a good player, but Arsene just never gave him a chance, yet has given limited players like Walcott numerous opportunities over several years. Hope he can find game time at a decent club somewhere else
Seadk6 has started following Arsenal and ozil
Our first signing let’s hope it’s a good one #COYG
Gutted about this, did everything he could during his limited chances. Yet another reason why Wenger should have gone
Very good player but not good enough to start for Arsenal in my opinion especially if a title challenge is our aim here. Best of luck to the guy I loved his attitude when he got his chance in games. Strange to sign him though without wanting to give him more game time. How much did he cost us?
Well.. Kinda expected it after arsene extended another 2 years.
Just seems like for whatever reason Wenger never really wanted him in the first place. Not really sure what the point is of buying players this age who we aren’t going to play.
Maybe this was a deal pushed onto Wenger by the so called ‘CEO Associates’ who are trying to help him out.
And perhaps Wenger just wants to hammer home the point that its him who decided who stays and who goes.
Had a similar feeling with Campbell as someone spent an entire summer month scouting him in Costa Rica which Wenger didn’t like
But how did that help us? It’s not like either Welbeck or Giroud convinced as first choice strikers.
Maybe giving him a fair chance could’ve been to the benefit of the club. Not like he hasn’t given more chances to less deserving players has he?
So we lose Perez and probably Sanchez and probably Chamberlain. But hey ! We’ve kept the Messiah and the Yankee shyster. What’s not to like ?
Nothing more he could have done. His score/assist record was fantastic and Wenger never gave him a chance. Apparently scoring and assisting every time you play is not top-top quality.
His decision making on the ball was also pretty good.
What a shame. There were no performances where I thought he didn’t look good enough, and excellent left foot. Hope we at least get a good fee.
Very strange one this. His goals to minutes ratio must have been immense!
Good luck mate.
This is a player who could definitely come back to haunt us Arsene!
Never given a fair chance. Looked more than average to me. Sorry to hear this news, but all the best to Lucas, he deserves a fresh start.
Goodbye. Arsenal > Perez
Are you Lukas Podolski in disguise Lucas Perezksi? LOL Wenger hasn’t played him quite enougfh and he was unfortunate to get injured at the wrong time. He protects the ball well and uses it well. But you can understand he will need regular playing time ahead of WCup 2018 And there are no guarantees, and we need to up the level technically in the squad this summer IMO. Perez and Debuchy have been one of the more exorbitant deals as far as potential sell on is concern for Wenger. I’m not sure if we will be able to sell him… Read more »
What a waste!
No one ever suspects the shitty agent! Arsenal should keep him by any means necessary. Even if it’s dragging that agent kicking and screaming along the way.
Regardless of the reasons for him not playing, one thing is sure: he’s been a real waste of money. 17m we paid for him, he hardly played & if we get half that amount back we’ll be lucky.
I wonder if we’ll sell him if Alexis leaves. As much as I like him,it seems he came as asquad player and would have played only if injury disaster struck our forwards area. It struck midfield,so… Toughluck for him.
Something doesn’t seem right about the Perez situation. He seems to be a perfectly good footballer; it’s a surprise that we’d pay good money for a bloke and never play him.
The only thing I’d say is we’re unlikely to miss him if he does leave.
I suspect, like Elneny, Perez was a key player picked up by StatDNA, and if you consider Wenger’s apparent apprehension to change, maybe playing Perez and him doing well would’ve validated Gazidis, which seems to be an issue.
Purely speculation. But there is logic to the reasoning.
Interesting theory Faisal! I posted much the same thing as Clive (below) but I hadn’t thought about the internal politics angle …
I think Wenger wanted to by a striker with unquestionable abilities 1 year ago, but… with the injury of Mertesacker (remember how good he and Koscielny was in the previous season / and we knew nothing about Holding) he had to buy a first class defender instead. However he knew we were sort of attacking options too (because even Welbz was injured). So – what have left in the treasury was only enough for Lucas. I think we bought him because he was considered a quality “deputy” attacker (next to Giroud, and Welbeck), but I doubt he was ever considered… Read more »
Let’s see what happens with Alexis and striker transfers before we even think of letting this guy go. He’s quality.
Would love to learn just why Wenger never played Perez. Why buy him – at a fairly hefty sum – if he had no intention of really using him. Stranger still when Perez seemed to perform well whenever given game time ….
Through his first 17-18 apps Lucas averaged a goal or assist every 42mins (goals were like every 57mins) but ask Joel Campbell how it goes when Wenger just doesn’t rate you. Same thing here, ergo #FreeLucas!, and then before the first Buyern game you hear his agent saying that Lucas wants to leave. Then Lucas misses the @Buyern squad with a “thigh injury” then ??? and he didn’t even make the subs at all until the FA Cup Final! Mm-hmm. Thigh injury me arse! The worst part about #FreeLucas! was that you could tell “Spanish Vardy” was used to his… Read more »
I don’t get it. Did we just blindly buy him based on his la Liga season? Did our scouts not know what kind of player he is what kind of striker he is? If they knew his style of play isn’t what Wenger desires from his forwards at arsenal, then why the heck did we buy him? And it’s not like he was a cheap buy either
Before coming to Arsenal I’ve never even heard of this guy. Lol I’m not saying I’m some hardcore La Liga fan but damn why hasn’t anyone else picked him up before last season? This whole idea of wanting to try and make the National team? I’ve never seen him play and significant role with the national team. At this point in his career shouldn’t think of his club career? He’s pretty much at the end of it. He’s going to give up a chance to play at Arsenal so he can play at some mid level club in La Liga… Read more »
not our Spanish Matador* ?
*(with thanks to the nutter the other day who cherished Perez more than Wenger himself somehow)
Sad to see him being wasted like this. Always looked intelligent on and off the ball whenever he played. Wish him the best for the career ahead. Oh and just in the last few seasons German world cup winner Lucas Podolski, hard working Joel Campbell, one of the best players in the Bundesliga this year Serge Gnabry and now Lucas Perez have had to move on because they couldnt find game time in front of a 28 year old who cant make the worst English squad in decades at the peak of his career and a 26 year old striker… Read more »
Crumbs this is bad news but hardly surprising now Wenger has signed up for another two seasons – I think Perez had qualities we are lacking and I would love to see he stay and let go of debuchy, Wilshire, ospina and Gibbs instead, not that I dislike the latter three but one is a injury crock, one wants to leave and the other is about to go even further down the pecking order when siad signs!!!