Last week Lucas Perez made it clear that he wants to leave Arsenal due to a lack of playing time.
The Spaniard looked a decent player when we saw him last season, but failed to convince Arsene Wenger he was worth anything more than a bit-part role.
Almost as soon as the campaign was over, his agent signalled his desire for a transfer, saying, “The idea is to be able to play for another club. We want to leave and Arsenal already know.
“Do you know anyone who is happy but has no opportunities?”
His former club, Deportivo la Coruña, were said to be interested but given their finances it was suggested a loan move might be their play.
However, it’s emerged that Arsenal are unwilling to sanction any loan deal and are looking for a fee of around £14m for the 28 year old.
Informa @jmolivacope: El Arsenal no quiere ceder a Lucas Pérez, quiere venderle y ha tasado al jugador en unos 14 millones de euros. pic.twitter.com/nqUQfaSQ8H
— El Partidazo de COPE (@partidazocope) June 8, 2017
There are apparently suitors in England, with West Ham said to be interested, along with Everton – the club Perez was about to sign for before we swooped in with our late August bid.
Correction: Headline changed to €14m from £14m as originally published.
If he was to go to another prem team I would want a lot more than £14m. Is it just me or do we generally sell players too cheaply?
Yes we do sell cheaply, remember the child inside of RVP?
Remember the snake in the grass…
He got the Park Chu-Young treatment. Can we do John Terry next?
Sales are simply dictated by supply/demand & the length of the contracts. We allow so many players to run their contracts down that we negotiate from a position of true weakness (no way Alexis is only worth 40m if Southampton were going to sell a defender for 60m). However everyone knows that if Alexis doesn’t sign that contract then we get nothing for him when he signs a pre contract in 6 months. We also tend to sell players there really is no actual demand for – see Ospina or Poldolski. They’re on high wages and smaller clubs don’t want… Read more »
He has shown that he can perform in the UK this season, even in random spurts or one off games, and we always hear how hard it is to stay ‘match fit.’ So I think we should be able to get more than £14M for him.
If he goes to Everton, Lukaku goes to Chelsea, Costa goes to China.
Assuming he is going no matter what, gaining £14M and not having to deal with Diego Costa’s antics anymore seems like a good deal to me. But would love for it to be more!
It’s 14m euros not pounds apparently
What’s the difference?
roughly .87891
More of a satirical comment in regards to our plumeting currency but thanks for the numbers mate…
Sad to see him go. We never really saw him play in the new formation. Must have done something to piss off Wenger
Another very expensive attempt to appease fans, crying out for a CF. Great record in Spain, really promising when he played for us, what is going on here? Even when we looked tired and drab this season, he didn’t get a look in. Pathetic transfer business. If we’d put that 17m onto our Xhaka fee, we’d be talking top end, world class holding midfielder.
Who then? Who could we have bought for 50 million that is better than xhaka?
I’m not saying you are wrong, but I would like to know who we could have bought in for that money, and Wenger not buying a striker when we have our main 2 injured at the start of a season….
The transfer business was fine, it’s the lack of game time I think is the problem
The transfer business was fine but we needed a quality forward and have done for 3 or 4 years.
Yet every year people come on here and make excuses for wenger for not finding one.
This season will not be any different and again we will struggle in the league. Its the way of things at arsenal.
with the 17m imagine if we gave kante an additional 5m sign on bonus would he have come? And we’d just use the rest and give Alexis and Mesut an additional 6m sign on bonus
What a waste. Not only do we recently not make enough from player sales, but he could’ve been something special if the manager at least gave him a chance.
Not like our first and second striking options were so convincing either.
Even Theo got more opportunities as a striker than he did.
Right. What was the point in buying him if you’re going to play an out of position Theo there instead.
I wouldn’t want him in any premier league team. I am aware of his qualities and he would be an asset to any other team. And as such, away from the premier league would be ideal.
Hopefully he would make life more difficult for our direct rivals with his performances. The likes of west ham and Everton are not our rivals
They are our rivals,that’s 12 points a season, that is not guaranteed nowadays. This kind of attitude led to us losing to the likes of Everton, Crystal Palace, Watford, Westbrom last season. Don’t you think he will want to prove a point to Wenger for treating him the way he did?
They are also our rivals because (unless something dramatic changes this summer) we’ll be fighting them for positions 6 to 9 in the league next year.
Please let me be wrong. COYG!
He should just have been patient! He also had injuries on his own part. I frankly think this agent attitude is disgusting! We compete in 4 cups he will be in full preseason training this time! Why can’t he be patient and use his brains!! This will destroy all the good work and reputation he has built up so far! We all know his better than Theo but am guessing not humble. Not what a squad needs.
So, if we do buy that ‘World Class’ striker, where does he fit in? Assuming HFB, Welbz, Theo and Alexis are all still around!!
It’s well established that he is a back up for Welbz. We paid Deportivo a sizeable fee to get this guy and he’s on decent wages as well. It’s not our fault that there are no buyers for him. If he wants to go then his agent should find a club that matches the price we set. I have no sympathy for this guy or for anyone who complains about a lack of game time. We are a big club and everybody has to earn the right to start games. If you are not starting, then take your wages and… Read more »
Back up for welbeck ? I am sure he’d score double his goals in another team.
This is almost like when Campbell had to watch Ramsey and sometimes wilshere start ahead of him on the wings
At this point, Joel Campbell has officially become a folk tale.
Many moons ago, a man named Dick Law was lost in a small Central American country…
we’re back to Campbell again? I like Campbell but he’s nothing but a squad player. Nothing more. This guy hasn’t done anything out on loan. You guys act like he’s destroying the competition while out on loan. He’s not even a starter. Basically you think a guy who can’t even start on the loan club he’s act right now should get any significant minutes at Arsenal? lol
This is something that seems to have been somewhat overlooked by many fans. Since he signed on 30th August, Perez spent 111 of 264 days (30th August 2016 – 21st May 2017), a total of 42% of the Premier League season injured: https://www.arsenalreport.com/injuryroom/
I don’t think he can really complain too much about lack of playing time if he’s not been available to pick for more than two fifths of the season.
Agree. I’ve found it odd how quickly some have forgotten this. And he always seemed to get injured when a good opportunity to fill in presented itself.
Not sure if Wenger rates him or not, but it’s like Perez doesn’t back himself anyway.
Wenger said he couldn’t give him game time because Welbeck came back. Also that they would sit down to see if he has decent chance to play in the future. It doesn’t look like injury issue for me.
By the same token he WAS available for 60% of the season.
Not injured does not mean fit enough or good enough to be first choice!
He started 2 league games, came on in 9. He was on the bench & just not used for a number more (anyone know how many?) & fit but not picked for matchday squad for others. Yes, he was injured but even if fit, he wouldn’t have played much more. Most importantly, he was a striker, fit & on the bench for Everton & City in December and not used even when we desperately needed a goal to save our ‘title challenge’. Regardless of whether you think he was badly treated by Arsene or just not good enough, either way… Read more »
Exactly, I think he will get his chance when the selfish one goes
You just know he will go to a prem team and shine and Arsenal will look like pork chops for letting him go.
Mmmm pork chops.
Too dry for me pork chops…
If your pork chops are dry, you are overcooking them.
Too right! No more of this loan shit. Let players we have no intention of using go and make sure we get the best possible price for them.
We wasted our money and his time when we signed him. A decent player who deserves better. All the best to him.
Seems to believe he should walk in to the Arsenal team. He was out injured most of the season. If he had any balls he’d stick with it, put his head down for pre-season and see where that gets him. Baby wants to go home to Coruna? See ya
This guy didn’t even have a face on FIFA – what a disgrace 😉 I actually think he’s a good player and feel sorry for him and at the very lease he’s a great option from the bench but clearly he’s been a victim of Wenger’s “I’m an idiot” side and now unfortunately we are playing with a system that won’t afford him any game time. I maybe controversial here but it’s clear he’s a better finisher and provider than welbz(whom I like very much btw) so something is clearly a miss. I remember being at a terrible EFL cup… Read more »
Which is somewhat ironic as he seems to have the same face as Sead Kolasinac – two footballers sharing the same face is quite commonplace in FIFA, less so in real life.
Fifty coaches sharing the same face in FIFA.
Decent player sorry to see he wants out, guy is aggressive and uses his stature well in the box . Agreed we sell cheaply to everybody! One weird thing though. is it just me or do Perez and Kolasinac look like they could be twins?
Perez is aggressive as a player – true..! It’s quite usual to find aggressive players being the first to get frustrated when they’re not picked. (Sanchez for example !)
His agent seems pretty slimy. Also, I’m sorry no 28 year old we’ve bought for £17m should be leaving on loan. If a club wants him, cough up or fuck off. The pound is plummeting, fees to English clubs are good value at the moment.
Have to agree. If the boss doesnt fancy him there’s no point loaning him out.
Sell him and invest in someone who actually might play.
Arsene should reconsider 8 goals and 6 assists hat trick in CL with very few appearances he would do great in league cup and Europa league give the guy a chance I rate him
Wtf is up with our selling. We sell for dirt cheap prices. 3m for Ospina. Now 14m for Perez. Someone please tell Wenger that the markets gone crazy now. We no longer sell as per their actual value
Seems like Wenger is buying players for market prices and selling them for what he thinks they should be worth.
everyone was hailing this as a great shrewd season last year when I claimed it was not the WC player that we need to win PL.
He has been overlooked by Arsene but he was injured most of the time
That’s the smartest thing anyone ever wrote in an internet comment, ever
I’m afraid the standard of the competition is rather low.
Ironically, that was also why Perez’ goals didn’t help convince the manager.
The egalitarian wage structure is a major issue as we massively overpay squad players. That makes them hard to move on.
Stupid getting rid of him. If Alexis does go – and I think it highly likely – who will we get to replace. Who could we afford ? Who would come ?
We might have to sign a lesser player and he and Perez may inter change over the coming season, giving Lucas the time he understandably wants on the pitch.
At all events, I certainly wouldn’t sell him until we have signed someone.
No one wanted him to go at Arsenal! His agent keeps wining up the club!
You got this one wrong Arsene. Perez is class
Like Ospina, he wants to leave for regular game time ahead of WCup1018
Some managers will keep him around on the periphery at the players own expense.
Not Wenger.
And I think much as Wenger bought a useful player as cover, we will likely have enough in his position even if we lose Alexis
So sell on for minimum loss of 4m if poss makes plenty of sense.
If we get someone like Mbappe I’d keep Giroud. He’s still a great option – skilled and proven. Sell Perez and walcott. Keep Olly with the new signing and then Iwobi/Welbz for rotation and injury backups.
Again seems like the number 9 is cursed at arsenal, another player that looked good but barely got chances, I want him to stay but only if he gets more games
Goodluck, Perez
Simply didn’t play him enough to get the best of him, kinda like podolski but in a shorter period of time