Arsenal: Lucas Perez Exit Undermines All Progress

Lucas Perez is reportedly nearing an Arsenal exit, with AC Milan a possible destination. A departure would undermine the progress that has been made.

One of the primary critiques of Arsene Wenger’s management rightly centred on his hesitancy to act in the transfer market. Despite spouting that the club had money to spend, for many years, Arsenal’s transfer rumours would be little more than a running joke of who they would never dream of signing.

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It was a major shortcoming of Wenger that crippled the club for many years. Whether the money ever was available to him, or whether Wenger’s public revelations were simply to predict the board, we will never know. I suspect the latter is true. However, what cannot be doubted is that the club suffered through many years of transfer inactivity.

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In the summer of 2013, though, that changed. Having lost Robin van Persie the summer previous, only proceeding to see him fire Manchester United to Sir Alex Ferguson’s last Premier League title, Wenger, on transfer deadline, did the wholly unexpected. For a club record £42 million, Wenger acquired the services of Mesut Ozil from Real Madrid.

It was a time of euphoria for many Arsenal fans and since then Wenger has proceeded to invest in the transfer market once again. Alexis Sanchez, Petr Cech, Granit Xhaka and Shkodran Mustafi are all examples of players who Wenger has heavily invested in during the past few seasons. As such, progress with the squad has been made; never has there been so much competition in so many positions.

One man who has also been acquired in that time is Lucas Perez. Signed for £17 million last summer, it was hoped that he would provide competition for the many attackers already at the club. That is exactly what he has done, but Wenger is seemingly blind to it.

Whenever Perez has found his way on the pitch, he has impressed. He has excellent movement off the ball, is intelligent in and around the box, showing a neat first touch and a ruthless streak in front of goal. And yet, he does not have the trust and his belief of his manager, leading him to believe that his future his best served elsewhere.

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If Perez were to exit the club this summer, all of the progress that Wenger has made in recent seasons would be undermined. Arsenal must look to continue moving forward. Perez leaving would be a major step back.