According to Eduardo Fernandez-Abascal of IB Times, Deportivo la Coruña have tabled a £9m bid for Lucas Perez.
The Spanish side are now waiting for a response from Arsenal, as they look to bring one of their favourite sons back home.
The Gunners signed the 28 year old for £17m last August, but despite impressing when given chances, he never convinced Arsene Wenger who viewed the likes of Olivier Giroud and Danny Welbeck more suitable.
The striker’s unhappiness at his current situation was made plain when stories leaked to local press spoke about how Arsenal had blocked a move to China, and given his number 9 to new signing Alexandre Lacazette without consultation.
Selling him for that price would represent a significant loss for the club, but as he’s unwanted by Arsene Wenger and desperate to leave, it seems like a reasonable solution all round.
what a shit show all round
This must’ve been a player that Wenger never wanted to sign at all, because the way he’s been treated has been so poor.
Agreed. And why give him the number 9 jersey? Guess we’ll have to wait for the memoirs on this one…
He never wanted to sign him but was under so much pressure from the fans to sign a striker. Every summer when he couldn’t get his targets he opted to wait rather than sign the wrong player. So he signed a striker that’s decent, gave him the number 9 jersey so it seems like he’s a big player and temporarily got the pressure off his shoulders.
It’s worse than Podolski (a saga that upset me greatly) because at at least with poldi you could see some logic behind why he was sidelined – his reluctance to track back while playing on the wing and his inability to fit into the Arsenal system, and arguably a bit of a lack of desire to adapt to the Arsenal way. With Perez, it literally makes no sense from any level to treat him this way, while favouring coasters like Walcott who, for all his talent, shows no evidence of having that fire in his belly. But fine, let’s keep… Read more »
He’s my type of striker; a poor man’s Suarez. Show’s so much hunger and bite, presses, harasses, direct and runs at people or runs into the box, whilst also very dynamic and changing positions.
Honestly, I don’t think he’s THAT much below Lacazette, another player Wenger doesn’t really want but has been forced to get as there are no other options on the market.
suarez sure shows lots of bite
I know this will be low rated but I expect the Axe to swing for Wenger soon enough. Karma is very sincere, she finds you and gives you the change you left lying around! If he was technically inept over the last how many seasons he will continue to be so, the league no longer just hands itself over to the best team but rather that is reserved for the best drilled and consistent
There must be something we’re not seeing because this doesn’t add up.
Agreed, I watched him play and was always impressed by him. I fell sorry for him, he’s gone from being a top scorer in Spain to being marginalised by Wenger. A real missed opportunity.
The fact that we’re all up in arms about this at least shows that Arsenal don’t normally act like this.. I’m sure this is a pretty common story at the likes of Chelsea.
That’s just it – we should have more class than this.
Lucas, apologies man, and I hope you’ve been reading Arseblog news – at least the fans support you!
It really bothers me that we didn’t sign lacazette last year and we paid so much for a player that was hardly an upgrade to Campbell
Always seemed like an odd signing from the start, it was hard to see him as our first choice signing in that position. With that in mind, I don’t see him as the flop some will doubtless portray him as; I see a backup player who did a good job when he came in and got unlucky with injuries just when he might have had a run in the side.
Hopefully we’ll be able to draw a line under this one quickly so both parties can move on to better things.
That’s a little unfair. There were numerous occasions where he was fit and available but was just left on the bench until we have minutes left to play (and sometimes not even then). And this was at the point he’d already proved he was a serious threat in front of goal. He may have had his injury troubles but it was as much a case that AW didn’t want to play him. And this is where AW’s stubbornness pisses me off. What would have been the harm in trying him out?!
Its easy to over inflate Perez.
he showed good maturity and clear decision making, some excellent qualities but he wasn’t superb either.
Santori – you’re missing the point in that he never really had the chance.
Cut our losses, free up a spot in the squad, take a bit off the wage bill. No-brainer, we won’t get any better
Un-Arsenal-like behaviour from the club with this player, pretty embarrassing. Best all parties forget it ever happened
Take it, move on, buy a CM
bad signing
Good signing. Poor use of him.
huh? this guy got a goal or an assist almost every time he played. I thought his attitude was fine and he appeared to be patient, but you can only wait so long for a chance.
Just let him go.
9m though? Bit embarrassing for us and for him
I was hoping he’d be the new Eduardo. Same physique, same shirt number. Damn.
I wouldn’t have thought that we paid the whole fee upfront, perhaps the 9 million is what our initial outlay was and so we don’t pay any further instalments?
I feel sorrry for him, always put a shift in and always looked decent when he played. He must have been a panic signing after missing out on Vardy, I still think he could do a job in the Europa League.
At this stage, it’s more about getting players off the wage bill than collecting an extra million here and there on the transfer fee (which will likely be staggered over his contract duration anyway). For whatever reason, Perez is not wanted and selling him frees up nearly 12 million in salary over the next 3 years.
£8m is significant these days?
He was brought in for cover for Giroud and Welbeck but didn’t get a chance because of Alexis. Giroud and Welbeck are fit, we have Lacazette, and it’s only £8m. Shame it didn’t work out but meh.
I don’t see why he can’t play in all the Europa matches. If our first team only play Premier League matches, we have a better chance of winning it. Our squad depth should be able to put out a side for each comp.
We have Lacazette, Giroud and Welbeck. Hard to accommodate a 4th striker.
Unless his name is Mbappe.
I dont get why everyone seems to stick up for welbeck.Hes a united reject who cant score goals.At least Walcott scores and still people want rid.
A very good player wasted on us, such a shame he wasn’t given a run of games at any point.
On the other hand I like this idea of the club shipping out all the players that really have no future with us, it’s about time.
Poor fella. Badly treated by the club. I thought he was exceptional when called upon. A better striker than Welbeck and not far behind the underrated Giroud. If he’d been given more playing time I’m sure he would have delivered. Why he’s been treated like this is baffling!!
It’s an odd one. Perhaps it was an “insurance policy” against further setbacks to Wellbeck? But then odder he wasn’t allowed to leave in January!
Fans should raise a banner thanking him for his time at the club. Maybe that will make the guy feel that his time at the club has not gone completely unappreciated. The guy deserves at least this much and we fans surely do our part!
Just did some maths for fun. If we manage to offload Walcott, Jenkinson, Debuchy, Perez, Wilshere and Gibbs we will save ourselves approx 52 million in salaries over the next 3 years, and potentially add another 75 million in transfer fees. That’s 127 million in total (or 77 million per year – which is 2 top players if you stagger the fees we would pay + salary at going rates). Get cracking Arsenal.
I stopped reading at “maths for fun”
so the day after stories “leak” about the grave injustices he’s suffered at Arsenal (imagine the horror of losing your shirt number!), we receive a lowball offer
hmm…
saw crossy comment about him that he did not show much fight for his place last year. i.e. he gave up too soon when he wasnt being played.
anyway notch this one as another park cho young and Good luck Lucas.
He’s much much better than Park!!
How can you know that? Park didn’t get the extensive run of games that Lucas did.
CHEtongueEK
That’s because Park was rubbish and Lucas proved he could score goals in La Liga. I’m giving you more time than your ridiculous comment deserves!
Will go down as one of Wenger’s strangest ever transfers. I’m not nearly as fussed about him going as many people on here apparently are, in fact his reputation has undoubtedly been enhanced by being entirely absent from our most difficult games last season. I call this the Joel Campbell Effect. But at the same time I can’t help but feel we’ve handled this spectacularly badly. I don’t think he was ever a world beater but he should have been given more chances and could have been useful.
you have my green thumb and my respect
Not bad business for Deportivo. 8 million in their fuck off pocket for a player virtually sent out on a year long loan. Bosh, bosh, thank you very much!
17-9=8. So, 8 million losses on one player in one year
I recall an arseblog article on transfers last year which said something about how they are paid in instalments over a period of months or years. Imagine Perez going back to Deportivo for roughly half what we paid for him mid instalment. I know there are people employed to deal with such things but who would like to oversee a mess like that? Not me.
Why is Wenger giving this guy a torrid time? he bought him for more than 17 million a year ago, and now he want to go and he should find a club for him to sell him but not for that small amount of money, they charged more and they want to buy him back for less.
Maybe it’s a case of attitude or maybe not proving himself in training? It could be anything under the sun but we’ll likely never know. What little we know and what he’s privy to are likely to be entirely different things. Wenger’s not the one to talk about such things which is to his credit.
The guy clearly said he pushed for a move in January to China, China of all football places… That tells you much about his “fight”
Before Jan he had been injured twice (I think) mind you… It’s easy to point fingers at Wenger and the club but look closely if the player’s heart is out of the team and we were in a bad spell – which we were – it stands to reason to play those whose hearts are fully committed to the team. I like Lucas but this one’s not entirely on the club…
Yesterday he said he wants to play more because he wants to go tot he World Cup. Now I hear he wanted to go to china. Surely that would increase his chances of making the Spanish squad.
This!
And people just fail to see the “logic”
Should have given him 50 numbered Jersey. Deportivo mighy have bid £50m
The “big book” says every story sounds true until you hear the other version… let wait for Wenger version on this guys
I do feel for him. He did play well when given the chance but Wenger seemed to have his mind made up before he had even signed not to play him.
Regardless though I think 9 mill is a joke. And I am growing tired of seeing players leave the Emirates far below their value.
Value is determined by what another is willing to pay, regardless of opinion.
To rephrase, I am growing tired of seeing players’ value plummet during their stay at the Emirates.
So only the buying club has control over the value of a player? And their OPINION is the only one that matters in a business transaction?
Your talking about the club who valued him at £16m when they sold him to us…. They’ll have to up their bid if he is a player they truly value
Attitude counts for a lot, look at the England squad of the not too distant part and you can’t help but think they underperformed, whereas the more confident Germany team would win even when playing pants!!! Hate to say this but too many in our squad are flaky and I am glad Jens is in to kick them up the rear, shame we are letting Perez go though, as it’d one less player for Jens to deal with!!!
I do feel sorry for Lucas but I’ll never bad mouth Wenger. Everyone needs to remember…this is football and we can only think of a handful of players he’s treared like this in 20 years. That’s not bad. We often complain he has too much faith in his players, so…fans…make up your mind
#FreeLucas
The more I read this, the more I hate Walcott
19 goal Theo. Bit harsh mate!
Sell. I think 10-12m will be better for us as we will stand to have lost 5m on him. Pity we could not have used him more this season. A very tidy player but ultimately one brought in as precaution by Wenger. I think we will need one more wide player if/when Alexis leaves. I’m not sure Lemar is the chap. Prefer Mahrez but as we can see from negotiations with Roma, Leicester are a bit idealistic with their price at 50m. Realism may set in closer to end of window for them and price may adjust downwards. Roma’s bid… Read more »
Are you Dick Laws son or something? That’s the 2nd comment I’ve read of yours bigging him up
Ideally (priced to sell) : Perez about 10-12m (loss of 5m preferably) Campbell 6-8m (profit thanks to Dick Law of the jungle) Walcott 25m Elneny – 6m (about even) Jack – 5m (injury issues) Jenko – 3-4m Debuchy – just take him. 4m. (loss of 8m, perhaps one of our worst deals) Gibbs – 5-6m Szsc we sold too cheap at 10m. Would have been at least 15m IMO. Ospina bid (from Nice) was also rubbish which is likely why he preferred to stay but Szsc’s motivation was to leave. Alexis anywhere between 55-70m Keep Ox and Giroud. That’s about… Read more »
If we factor in Walcott or an Alexis sale, at say 25m +60m, that’s about 85m which covers 47m/52m for Lacazette and some left over to bid for a midfielder (hopefully)
That way we are net spend even…which is err the way Wenger likes it.
Which is why likely only 3 players this summer (plus of course Kolasinac which was a great buy…thanks Dick Law)
He was good when he played so sad.
Interesting top comments. On other threads everyone is moaning that we sell our players too cheaply. But now the general consensus is that selling for half the price we paid a year ago is reasonable business for everyone. You cant have it both ways!!
Just get it done, clearly not in plans, off the wages and sign first 11 quality.
Our strategy or complete lack of it in the market is ridiculous. No planning..
I’m pretty sure the problems stemmed from Arsene thinking he was signing Pires and not Perez…
I have a problem with all this. I can’t help thinking that if he were anywhere near as good as he’s portrayed here and he were willing to continue to play over here given the game time, there’d be a queue of premiership managers around the Emirates waving sacks of cash. As it is, the only offer we have is Depor offering to buy us dinner if we send him home. Bit of a puzzler, isn’t it? The only way I can account for the discrepancy (and Wenger’s attitude toward him) is if he said: “Sod this, I want to… Read more »
Lucas is a very potent attacker, if he fancies staying in premier league I am sure a few mid table clubs will soon fight for his signature, which if you ask me is what AW is waiting for. My money is on that 15m eould price him away, which is a bargain in today’s market.