Arsenal: Lucas Perez A Brilliant Last Ditch Option

Arsenal look to be lining up a bid for Coruna striker Lucas Perez and, all things considered, they could do much worse in the end.

So Wenger has waited this long and Arsenal still need a striker and there’s only a week left to find one. Where do you look? Spain. Just, way down the table.

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Rumor has it that Arsenal’s flavor of the hour comes to us from Deportivo La Coruna, who finished 15th in La Liga last year. Within their confines there stands a man named Lucas Perez, who you can be forgiven for not knowing prior to me saying his name and subsequently Googling him. He does not have much name value and he certainly isn’t the big name striker everyone is craving, but as Wenger has proven numerous times, sometimes he can make more with less.

That being said, Perez is just about as good as we can hope for this late in the window. A lot of the arguments I used for Wissam Ben-Yedder (damn him!) also apply to Perez. You can only make the most of what you’re given. You can only do so much as a single human being, yada yada.

Well, Perez has made the most out of what he’s been given. In his first season as the go-to guy with Deportivo, he netted 17 goals in 36 opportunities, adding a gorgeous eight assists in the process.

You see, Perez isn’t one of those goals-only strikers. He created two chances a game last year for Deportivo. He led the team in goals, assists and chances created. You really can’t do much more than that. Plus, at 27 years of age, he is in the prime where he needs to be stretching his wings to fly.

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Arsenal can provide him that, and, if you believe everything you read, Perez has a release clause of just £17m. I think even Wenger can get behind that.

In terms of interest, I don’t see how a 27 year old wouldn’t want to trade up to a Champions League club and field passes from Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez. I’m sure there’s a couple, but something tells me Perez isn’t one. Just a hunch.

Perez will not appease the spend-first fans who buy into name value and price tags. Not a chance. I’ll admit that I had to look up Lucas Perez too. I thought he was a defender. But after getting caught up on footage and stats, it looks like he could be another hidden gem.

Arsenal really are in desperation mode, or at least they should be. Then again Wenger doesn’t exactly have that mode. Still, anyone that can alternate with Giroud and fit in with this attack has to be a viable option. Perez is a proven team player that knows how to finish and he damn well could be one of the few strikers out there that still has tremendous upside to bring on board.

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What do you think Gooners? Would you be pleased with Lucas Perez?