Has Lucas Perez been badly treated by Arsenal?

Arsenal striker Lucas Perez was hailed to be a signing that the Gunners desperately needed to make last summer, with the fans, pundits and journalists extremely keen on a new striker at the helm of Arsenal football club. Admittedly Perez may not have been everyone’s first choice target over the course of the summer, but after what had been a difficult transfer window for the Gunners, I think Wenger and co will be happy to have got their hands on the Spaniard.

The impact anticipated from Perez was expectedly huge. The fans wanted a top class striker to come in and lead the line confidently for Arsenal, an area we have lacked in for some time. Perez’s arrival was an understatement in itself and despite having a good goalscoring record with Deportivo last season in the Spanish La Liga, he’s very much unproven on a consistent basis, especially with a lack of experience in the higher ranks of European football.

Perez has been in a bad place at the Emirates this season, having failed to regularly feature under Gunners boss Arsene Wenger. Wenger has left the striker on the sidelines on many occasions this season, and at various points of the campaign the player hasn’t even managed to take a place on the bench. In total he’s made 11 Premier League appearances, only two of which have been starts. He’s also started in one champions league game (in which he scored a hat-trick!), whilst the majority of his minutes have come from domestic cup matches in both the EFL and FA CUP competitions. Despite a lack of minutes, Perez has done relatively well with 7 goals to his name, but it would seem much more is expected from him.

Although it’s not his fault exactly, with Wenger choosing to leave the striker out of his team, Perez does have to work for his spot and clearly he isn’t impressing the Frenchman enough in training. Perez cannot be happy at his current position at Arsenal and as a result, speculation surrounding his near future has already begun.

In a Sky Sports report, Perez is quoted as saying: “I would like to prove that I’ve got the quality to win things with Arsenal. But if the moment comes when I can’t do that any more, or if they decide to transfer me, there is always the opportunity to go back to Depor. I know there are other clubs who want to sign me and my intention is to play in the Champions League. But in the summer we will see if Depor is still an option.”

The initial deal strikes me as a bit of a panic buy, a bit of a Park Chu Young situation, albeit a much more expensive one with a fair amount more quality. Wenger may have been pressured into signing a striker and with the end of the transfer window soon approaching at the time, options had become limited. We know Wenger reportedly tried to sign the likes of Vardy, Morata and Lacazette, all to no avail, so Lucas Perez may have been one of Wenger’s final choices.

I think admittedly because of the situation in which the player joined, where everyone was so keen on signing a striker, I think many of the fans naturally expected more from Perez. However perhaps he’s had too much pressure on him to make an immediate impact and the expectations have been set too high. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a sale on the cards in the summer, whether that be to Deportivo or elsewhere; but with the player approaching his thirties and not getting regular game time, he’s sure to move on to pastures new.

AH

26 Comments

  1. Great player if he had played as many minutes as wallcat he would and could reach 20 goals by now

  2. Yes we are treating him badly…. And we have also wasted our money as well because if you are not giving him chance then we are certainly wasting 17M and Wages which we are paying him..

  3. He spoke-out after only one season, which suggests that he’s not a quiet “Yes man” and perhaps has a big personality that Wenger feels threatened by. It wouldn’t be the first time players have been strangely shunned by Wenger, despite having the obvious capacity to add value on the pitch (EG. Podolski and Campbell).

    Or perhaps he didn’t properly appreciate Wenger’s collection of fine wines, or accidentally dented Wenger’s car in the car-park…

    It’s a certainly a strange one, because he’s looked like a decent player, and someone that could have really contributed to making this season less rubbish.

  4. The unprogressive people alliance

    .

    Satan Kroenke
    Ivan Gazidisease
    Sir chips keswitch
    Arsene “Mr.Potato Head” wenger

    .
    They are the propagators of our downwards spiral & have ruined what Arsenal really stands for!

    1. Ouch!…. The wenger battalion is out in force with their thumbs-down
      .
      Who cares?
      .
      Bring on ya Leprose fingers……

  5. Well, His Goals + assists ratio per minutes played, is a lot better than most at Arsenal. It’s funny how his treatment kind of reminds us of the other Lucas who once graced our bench.
    The sad thing about Perez is that he has been left in such a wilderness that we don’t even hear if his fit or injured anymore. ?? is he fit or injured? I have no idea.

  6. Before any talk about a striker, let’s see what kind of chances arsenal creates during gameplay. The ugly truth is that lately, we are not even creating enough clear goal scoring chances to ask for a striker to take advantage of them. What we really need is creativity in creating plays. Maybe this is why poor Lucas did not shine; the poor guy was expecting that he will be fed with chances…..instead, everyone was looking at him to create chances ! He must be thinking ” I did not sign up for this “.

    1. When did he get the chance to “not shine”?! He hardly plays! This is the kind of sickening strange judgment that Wenger employs every now and then. Perez scores a hatrick he is benched. Ramsey plays rubbish week in week out he keeps his place in the starting line up. Wenger why?????WHY’????

  7. Perhaps there’s something bout the name “Lucas” that wenger doesn’t really Love

    .
    I mean; Why on earth did wenger sign this guy in the 1st place?

    1. Because he’s a window shopper who’s looking to spend 50 cent, yet when the panic sets in ?? he throws all his loose change at the last available item on the shelf. ??

    2. I do not believe it was Wenger, it was the board who signed Perez to please the fans, like they bought Welbroke when Wenger only wanted to loan him.

      I could be wrong and if I am I will change my tune on Perez, not see anything to indicate I am though but willing to keep an open mind.

      Perez was a last min buy and he has had no trust shown in him by Wenger, we can look at Perez stats and see why as well, 33% of dribbles successful… less than 1 shot per game…

      That is what he has done for us.

      Yes Perez has popped up with goals but what else has he done in those games? He is a hard worker ad he will always get goals, can we count on him though when he doesn’t make at least 3 shots per game? If he is not shooting then is he getting the ball forward, driving us forward and putting pressure on the opposition? at 33% success rate… no.

      Passing not too bad at 77% accuracy, this is one area he has better than Alexis… Credit where it is due. Perez can pass the ball a bit better than Alexis who isn’t known for his high pass completion.

      I do not think Wenger wanted him. I do not think Wenger wanted Vardy which was a target for us at the start of the transfer window.

      I think Wenger wanted Lacazette but AFC wouldn’t pay for him.

      Funny I been saying the support is lacking for years and now Ozil has put Dick Law in the spotlight and Wrighty also indicated it was him who messed up the Suarez deal while missing the plane to sign Ozil from RM and nearly caused that transfer to fail.

      Origins of Wenger blame tends to come from media… exclusive stories and inside knowledge from people who have no credentials in the sporting world…

  8. I don’t see what else Lucas could have done. He scored, he assisted all with very few opportunities. They guy got a raw deal and was a major fail as an investment. Why buy him if you are not going to play him? He was one of our best wide options IMO.

    1. He could have made more than 1 shot per game on average…
      Could have been better than 33% completion of dribbles made… Even Giroud has better success running with the ball!
      He could have attempted to get into games a bit more, on average 10 passes per game is kinda low when you look at Alexis who has over 40 passes per game. Even the moaned at Theo has averaged twice the amount of passes per game and twice as many shots while having a 60% completion rate for dribbles.

      Shirt sales makes me wonder though, I can’t easily find how many Perez shirt sales AFC made, if it was around 500k shirt sales then it wouldn’t be far off from his purchase price, 1 million shirt sales would result in more profit than the purchase cost…

      Board buy is my thought about Perez.

    1. lol……that guy vela, haven’t heard of him in a very long while

      .
      Looks like when wenger succeeds in ruining ya career, you are useless for life

  9. This is the genius of Wenger. I don’t want to pay market price of £40-£50m for a striker that can help us out so I’ll waste £17m instead on someone I won’t even use.

    Plus let’s face it – Wenger is convinced that Giroud is the best thing that ever happened to him. He isn’t going to replace him.

    1. I reckon Perez would do very well at either of Everton Leicester. If Lukaku goes I think Eve should bid for him, he has some very intelligent movement, I think Koeman could get the best out of him.

      Leicester could do with another player akin to their speed junkie, I think they could play together too.

      So long as we now get in a proper striker ..one that any big club would be proud to call their own, so long as this happens well then I’d just forget about this whole saga. He should not be our starting no9, but he should have gotten more games definitely.

      Alexis is maybe the only one who proved that he himself gets the call ahead of the Spaniard. Welbeck injured, Giroud may as well have been our mascot, Walcott semi decent numbers, but general play was suicidal and the boy still has next to zero experience.

  10. seems you’ve refused to see beyond your nose
    .
    So don’t start one of those sermon on the mount telling us the pros and cons of perez’ signature

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    The rot starts with wenger , through the board and ends with Akbs who refuse to listen to reason

  11. i would dearly love to know , what my new bestie, jembuttarse, feels about lucas . jembuttarse seems to have his finger on the arsenal pulse, it is uncanny , it is almost like wenger himself is typing, when i read the butt.we need more fans like this genuine , honest and passionate supporter of our dear club.tis little wonder why we are the laughing stock of the football world , not only in england , but , worldwide. we have chaps coming in here knocking old jambutt down , just because he is different . thats not on chaps , so please lay off the butt , he speaks from his heart . i would vote for him to replace wenger when the great one decides to collect his pension .

    1. Thank you for your sarcastic compliment to me, Burt.
      Talking about Lucas, lucas, oh dear beloved lucas.
      The point is that even the best players need time to adjust to new surroundings, a new country and a new league with new demands. It is not limited to Wenger, Despite starting only nine games he has seven goals, at least one in every competition, and five assists. Moreover, on the frequent occasions he does come off the bench it is rarely a substitution wasted. Perez has that intangible ability to make things happen and he is capable of electrifying the team. It is true that fans are prone to invest a bit too much hope in sidelined players when those on the pitch are not performing to the standard they would expect, placing too much expectation on the players they hope will ride in and save the team. Perez, though, has clearly shown that he is worth a prolonged run in the team.

      Be Patience with Lucas you biased fans, Arsene Knows Best.

      1. i was not being sarcastic at all jambuttarse. can you not accept a compliment when one is directed toward you ?. or , is that beyond your grasp , dear buddy.i am actually loving all of your comments. i think i might just elevate you to sainthood soon .

  12. I’d like to see Perez behind the striker with Alexis in the new 3421 system. I would have loved to see this set of players keep themselves fit a whole season like Tott and Che’s did. I still think we need a new CB, Kos is showing a few signs and we need to double down on next season as we still don’t know how we’re gonna look back there when fully integrated. Cech looks a bit more like his old self the last few weeks, does anyone agree.

    ……………….Welbeck (until we sign someone)
    ………..Alexis…………Perez
    Kolasinac..Xhaka..Cazorla..Oxlade
    …….Holding..Koscielny..Mustafi
    ……………………Cech

    Interested to see how Bellerin reacts to finally having a fight on. Ramsey got his energy levels back, not surprised as the summer window is fast approaching, but he did look a little inspirational, must be said, not too dissimilar to how Oxlade got his big-ups a few weeks back versus city. Three quality incoming players could make a huge difference to this squad, bench would look stronger too. Because of the wing-back system I’m not sure where I stand on any new wingers, I thought we needed two, but now not so sure.

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