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Lucas Perez desperate to leave Arsenal after feeling 'cheated' by 'ugly gesture' of losing No 9 shirt
Lucas Perez has furiously hit out over his lack of playing time last season and reportedly told Arsenal that he feels “cheated” by his treatment and the “ugly gesture” of giving his No.9 shirt to Alexandre Lacazette.
Perez, who was signed by Arsenal last summer for £17 million, has also made it clear that he wants now to return to Deportivo La Coruna, where he hopes that he can push for a place in Spain’s World Cup squad.
The website, La Voz de Galicia, which is based in the same region as Perez was born brought up, has today published an account of a meeting the striker held last week with Arsenal’s transfer negotiator Dick Law. “I want to leave, to play and be happy,” Perez was said to have told Law.
“Last year I barely had any opportunities and when I had them I took advantage of them. And this season is clearly going to be more of the same. I want to fight to go to the national team. I want to play football, but for that I have to leave. And I think that the best place for me is at home, with Dépor.”
Wenger did repeatedly sympathise last season with Perez’s predicament and even admitted that he deserved more playing time but his decision to buy Lacazette – who he also tried to recruit last summer – means that the 28-year-old is even more unlikely to feature next season.
Perez scored seven goals last season for Arsenal – including a brilliant volley against Bournemouth – but ultimately made only 11 Premier League appearances. Alexis Sanchez, Olivier Giroud and Danny Welbeck were repeatedly all preferred as the main central striker.
“They [Arsenal] are not behaving well with me,” Perez reportedly told Law. “The thing of taking the shirt number without telling me to give it to a companion, it seems to me the last straw.
“I cannot continue this way. I have given everything, but that has not been reciprocated, so I can’t stand it any longer. I feel cheated. In February I was not allowed to leave for China with the promise that I would play more and after that I had even fewer opportunities.
“But the shirt number is an ugly gesture. On the trip, Lacazette asked the boss and he accepted. Afterwards, he told me. Last year he [Wenger] told me that he understood that I was upset. I think this season things will get worse, so help me out.
"Since I have been a professional footballer, I’ve felt happiest in Deportivo, surrounded by my family, my friends. Put yourself in my place. I know I have chances to go to the national team. To play the World Cup. A dream. But for that I have to play and I have to be happy. That’s why I want to go back to Coruña.”
As well as Deportivo, Fenerbahce are also been interested in Perez. Deportivo, though, have reportedly offered Perez a 10-year contract that would allow him to move into an off-field role.
When asked last season about Perez, Wenger said: “He’s a top-quality striker and I couldn’t give him the games that he wants and that he deserve. I feel sorry for him on that front, but we have more strikers available now. There was a congestion there. If I’m the manager, I would love to keep him. We have to sit down together and see if he has a reasonable chance to play next season or not.”