Reports over the weekend claim that Newcastle United are set to target Lucas Perez as his dream move back to Deportivo la Coruña stalls.
The Spanish side have offered €9m thus far, much less than the €15m the Gunners are seeking, and the newly promoted Magpies have apparently earmarked him as a potential recruit.
There’s a Spanish influence at St James’ Park, of course, with Rafa Benitez in charge, and that may be a lure for the 28 year old striker.
Interestingly, at his press conference yesterday Arsene Wenger seemed to suggest that Perez was part of his plans, and that the only reason he wasn’t in the squad for the Emirates Cup was because of injury.
However, with record signing Alexandre Lacazette, Olivier Giroud, Theo Walcott, and Danny Welbeck all seemingly ahead of him in the pecking order, he seems an obvious choice to trim some fat from a squad that Arsene Wenger has already described as ‘heavy‘.
It’s also unlikely that Depor will be able to go as high as €15m, so Perez may have to reassess his options as the transfer window enters its final month from tomorrow.
Would be nice to see him given a chance from a PL team. Good luck today him. Just a shame he didn’t get to prove himself with arsenal
He did get a chance. Every day at the training ground. Didn’t do enough obviously.
In his 15 appearances (11 as a sub), he got 5 goals and 3 assists. He appears to have more end product than Welbeck for example, but for whatever reason (and you’re probably right that it is down to the training ground) Wenger never really trusted him.
Using league cup goals to illustrate your point is slightly disingenuous. He scored 1 PL goal in 284 minutes. Not a great record.
He actually does have more end product then Welbeck but pales in comparison to Walcott (2016/17 PL stats). I think Perez suffers because he’s not actually a number 9, he’s an inside forward and we already have a pretty good one in Sanchez.
Currently…..
Huh?
Perez is a no.9 and was used as such at Deportivo.
Only during his final season. Do keep up.
On the pitch he proved his worth. Very badly treated.
Dunno bout that one, mouthing off to the press every time you want to play and can’t (especially when you’re injured at the time) isn’t the best way into Wenger’s team. Look at what happened to Debuchy. His career has literally committed suicide.
He didn’t mouth off until the season was over.
Those training ground goals, crucial for the team.
That training ground effort. Vital for team selection.
Theo must be a monster on the training ground.
Shoot imagine how monstrous in training Sanogo must’ve been? Considering even he got more chances than Perez.
Must be since he was selected. Perez is just a lazy shitbag. End of!
Who hurt you?
I don’t even think Sanogo knew what he was supposed to be doing in training, let alone the coaching staff.
How good must Bendtner and Denilson have been on the training ground…….
The Greatest Striker That Ever Trained
Giroud must also be a monster on the training ground. As he is not even close to a 50% goals to games ratio and has never scored more than 16 league goals in a season, yet we’ve stuck with him for 5 years.
He gave the effort in games. Scored too.
Patrick Vieira was notoriously lacklustre in training and always got selected (rightly so) because of what he did when it mattered.
Now I’m not saying Perez is amazing or owt, but you can’t say he didn’t contribute.
I’m sure Theo Walcott is a Messi-level talent on the training ground, hence all the chances.
If the manager’s favourites were up to mark, maybe we’d be less sympathetic to the rest. As it stands, he’s quite entitled to be aggrieved.
Of his 15 apps (11 sub), 5 goals, 3 assists. I think he showed that he could produce end product.
Must be why he didn’t play much and is on his way out.
He’s good enough to cut it at this level. Maybe not good enough to usurp Giroud, but there’s a place for him here. Hopefully this works out.
Wenger citing injuries in these cases can never be taken seriously. The same way that Alexis, Gibbs and Debuchy are all out with ‘a little bit flu’.
Nothing wrong with the tactic if it strengthens our hand in the market!
Sounds like a good move for him if true.
€15mill seems decent value in this market, suprised more aren’t lining up.
Maybe he isn’t as good as most of the people connected to Arsenal think he is.
Just maybe.
Lucas Perez for Arsenal across all competitions last season:
9 starts
948 minutes
7 goals
5 assists
Directly involved in a goal every 79 minutes.
With some of the money being spent, €15mill seems like a decent punt to me.
Think he bagged 17 in the season before joining us as well.
Dean Bowditch Jack Dunn Chris Wood Simon Makienok Matt Ritchie Tomer Hemed Oliver McBurnie Sergi Canos What do they all have in common? They all scored goals per minute at a greater rate than Lucas Perez in the EFL Cup last season. You can add Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Cesc Fabregas to this list, as well as several other well known players. Don’t base an argument for Perez around his total output, it makes you look silly. The fact is, he was brought in as last minute cover whilst Giroud and Welbeck were recovering from injury and Sanchez was working his… Read more »
Honestly, some Arsenal fans baffle me. They want us to shift dead wood, but when we try moving on a player who is statistically significantly inferior to Theo Walcott there is a massive backlash. They have Theo pinned as a limited player, but he has one of the most consistent strike rates in the PL over many seasons. His crime is that he’s not as good as Henry, therefore he must be terrible. Well, hello, Henry is probably the greatest number 9 (14) to grace the PL, and may never be surpassed. If you think Lucas Perez is the answer,… Read more »
Perez was bad business yes.
I would personally want to sell theo, and reinvest the money in an upgrade
You could also ask Claudio Ranieri
If that’s your litmus test for the usefulness of a player, then shouldn’t Welbeck be getting sold also?
Theo Walcott is a very limited player. Most of his goals ate almost mandatory. Cannot maneuver around an ant.
-ate +are
if scoring is that easy why do others not do it as much?
I’m putting him in my fantasy football team if he goes to Newcastle. Hope whatever happens, the best works out for the club and him.
Would be interesting to see how he performs at a PL club that gives him the opportunity to play up top regularly as a striker.
He will undoubtedly score past us if he goes to Newcastle
The second he spots that 9 on Lacazette’s back he’s gonna go full Suarez mode
Dang, I meant Shearer mode.
And i thought you meant Sanchez mode
Great to read Barca are crying over tap ups….We will complain to UEFA, What a bunch of cunts, with shite memories.
Hope UEFA tell them to go fuck themselves or an equivalent in lawyer terms.
Pretty sure Neymar has French DNA.
They deserve their own medicine – imagine Thiago Silva and Dani Alves forcing Neymar into the PSG jersey whilst on international duty – now where have I seen that before…
I would SO LOVE to see that. Fuckers.
Hopefully he will go there taking a massive dump in Barca’s cornflakes, and then PSG will get fucked for FFP as well
Pot and black kettle come to mind. What a load of hypocrites
I wanna give you 10 thumbs up. So true.
No chance…. how many times has that club avoided utterly deserved transfer bans?
You’d think he can find a better team than the barcodes.
Or tail between legs and going back to Deportivo no disrespect.
Some of the Italian teams are ‘reconstructing’. They could use a player of his abilities IMO.
Arsenal should at least make amends and hawk him to a better option.
We need manpower for the Europa League. I think we should keep this guy. From his you tube compilation he looks like a fighter
I really want him to go to Newcastle. He looks like a typical Newcastle forward: Pacey, Powerful, takes Strong Shots, (insert speaks French/Spanish here)
Hoping that Gibbsy also signs for the Toons. That is if they don’t already have a decent first team LB. Definitely do not want him going there to play backup.
I’m with you. Newcastle won a little bit of love from me for what they managed to do on 15 May 2016.
Certainly a happier arrangement for all involved then Deportiva’s arrogant bid of less then half the sum that they sold him to us for 11 months ago
I don’t think he got a fair crack of the whip same as Podolski. I guess Wenger mustn’t see the right progress…. who knows, good luck to him, bit of a waste of money really
I think he should be send out on loan to one of he epl teams.
Not sure where to post this so here goes…One of the reasons I love Arsenal has 2 key points that relate to class. I love that our manager has integrity class and values, I also love both his and the club commitment to playing free flowing football with class. With that said, I now have a f**king bad taste in my mouth because Kronke launched his hunting channel. Dear Stan, you make enough damn money so that there is no need to make more by filming some of the most impressive species in the world shot by your fellow ass… Read more »
City’s owner uses Phillipino slave labour to make money, Ambramovich killed 3 people stealing gold bullion back in the day, Leicester’s Thai owners are huge supporters of the war on drugs which sees Thai’s poorest gunned down in the streets, and yes Kroenke is a cunt but let’s not act like he’s satan himself
he undoubtedly has the talent and skill. perhaps he has not showed enough to the boss in training and attitude.
if I was to pick the squad I would choose him over welbeck but perhaps he isn’t showing desire or fight.
hope he gets a good team in the epl and help us in the process.
Lucas Perez is a good striker who was denied playing time because Wenger was not the one who identified him before he came to Arsenal and that is it . Podolski and Joe Campbell were also victims of egoistic Wenger for the same reason .All speculations about training ground issues, scoring a hat trick in a dead rubber Champions League and against lower league teams are hate speeches by people who has taken Wenger as their god who can do no wrong.Many do not read posts on many websites to be adequately informed .Goals are goals and no goal is… Read more »
I really think we should hold onto him, at least until January. We’ve a new formation, new striker and a new tournament that we’ll want a good rotation in. Of course its not the CL but I dont think we’ll be too happy if we’re burning out players in the Europa League when they can be hungry for games in the PL. Perez can lead the attack in the Europa and maybe even League Cup. We always suffer after the mental Christmas line up, a better rotation will help there too. At least then in January he’s served a purpose.… Read more »