Alexandre Lacazette’s big money move to Arsenal last summer signalled the end of Lucas Perez’s frustrating time at the club. The arrival of Lacazette meant that Arsene Wenger had four options to choose from up front. With the French boss known to use one out-and-out forward for his team selections, the availability of four hitmen meant that there was an excess of competition in the team.
As for Lucas Perez, it only meant one thing. Olivier Giroud’s ability to pull off extraordinary hold up play meant that the Frenchman was always going to be needed by Wenger. As for Welbeck, the Englishman’s versatility to play as a striker or a winger made him a useful asset to Wenger. The case for Alexandre Lacazette was simple; he was a big money striker with a proven track record of scoring plenty of goals and hence was always going to be Wenger’s first choice amongst the striking options. This left Perez, who had already been frustrated at North London with a simple move to make.
The Spanish striker had moved to the club in the beginning of the 2016/17 season to the Emirates from Deportivo La Coruna for a fee reported to be around £ 17 million. His first season at the club proved to be a failure with the striker failing to cement his place in the first team. In his entire season, he made only 21 appearances for Arsenal, most of them being substitute appearances and scored 7 goals in the process. The Spaniard made only two league starts amongst those scoring 1 league goal.
Perez had cleared out his situation back last summer that he wanted to part ways with the club. However, Arsenal, in order to protect their own interest, refused to cave into the player’s demands and after refusing to accept many lucrative offers, Perez secured a loan move back to his former club of Deportivo La Coruna in the deadline hours of the transfer window.
The Spaniard has once again become a regular at his old club and has already made 18 appearances for them. He has scored 5 goals and made 3 assists for Deportivo and looks increasingly like the striker who scored 17 goals in one season before Arsenal came swooping for him.
Perez’s loan deal is set to expire at the end of the season but given the fact that he is happy again at Deportivo, he might not want to move back to London. As for Arsenal, with the Gunners set to lose Sanchez for free, they might want to bring back Perez as a squad member, but convincing a rebellious player to be a part of a squad may not be the wisest move for the North London club.
