Arsenal: Lucas Perez Should Have Had Exactly What He Wanted

Arsenal signed Lucas Perez with little to no expectations. But the Spaniard had his own expectations and it seems like they should have been realized.

Arsenal signed everything they needed in the summer. They got the midfield battle tank, the defensive stalwart and a striker. Of the three, it was clear that their choice of striker, Lucas Perez, was the biggest question mark.

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There was no denying his stats at Deportivo La Coruna, but there was the matter of his La Liga side not exactly being top tier.

But still, some talent is universal. Passing, linking up play, shooting. That is all stuff that translates across league.

Lucas wasn’t given much of a chance when he first arrived, as Alexis Sanchez excelled at a role that maybe no one expected him to. That made Lucas the go-to for side competitions, but even then, when Giroud came back, he was pushed further back.

It got to the point in October when Lucas admitted that he was expecting more of a starring role. At that time, I was quick to question. Why would he be expecting something that clearly wasn’t in the cards?

But now that we have gotten to the point in the season where the regular Gunner collapse is under way, I have thought back and wondered – why wasn’t he getting a bigger role.

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Granted, hindsight is 20/20 and everything looks better with the benefit of knowing what actually happened. Alexis did great, Giroud did great, Welbeck is awesome, so it makes sense why Lucas wasn’t given an advanced line of credit.

And then you see what he has been able to do in his limited appearances. That’s what got me thinking. If he had been given his chances earlier and given more time to get his feet underneath him, maybe he would have accumulated some of that surprising illusive Wenger-faith by now and been able to make a bigger difference than he’s been allowed to make.

I couldn’t believe that he was not used against Chelsea. Although, to be fair, I reckon that if Bellerin hadn’t gotten cold-cocked by Marcos Alonso, forcing the first sub, then Lucas may well have come on.

But in a time where we needed to throw caution to the wind and really go for it, we didn’t go for it. And that gives way to the second-guessing of who could have made a difference.

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Lucas could have. Along those lines, with the benefit of hindsight, he should have been given exactly what he wanted when he first came over to London.