I do feel sorry for Lucas Perez. The Spaniard was signed from Deportivo La Coruña at the end of the last transfer window with a great goalscoring record in La Liga, and was hailed as the answer to Arsenal’s striker problems at last.
But, even though Olivier Giroud was injured at the start of the season, Arsene Wenger instead decided to move Alexis Sanchez into the centre-forward position and Lucas was pushed onto the bench. And there he stayed! When Wenger gave him a chance in the occasional Cup games or as a sub the Spaniard always looked impressive and scored some wonderful goals, but Wenger still kept him on the bench for practically the whole season.
I bet he couldn’t wait for the season to end, and after being on the bench yet again in the Cup Final, he was on a plane back to La Coruña the very next day, and made it clear that he wanted a return to his hometown club.
But it looks like he will not be getting his wish, as the Deportivo manager Pepe Mel has admitted that Wenger won’t be allowing Lucas to come back at a reduced price despite him being surplus to requirements at the Emirates. “Everyone understands that Depor wants Lucas.” Mel said.
“I know Arsenal well … they do not give away anything, especially if they have paid more before. I told the president to work hard on plan B, because it will probably be the most feasible.”
“But of course we would be waiting with open arms for Lucas because it would make us a team with many more options.”
The arrival of Lucas looked like a last minute panic buy by Wenger and it would seem that Le Prof didn’t really rate him, despite giving us either a goal or an assist for every 44 minutes he was actually on the pitch. I think it would be blatantly unfair for Wenger to force the 28 year-old to stay at Arsenal without much hope of playing, when he could be playing every week at his former club.
Do you think Arsenal should be a bit more flexible in their negotiations?
Darren N