Arsenal: Danny Welbeck contract best thing for Lucas Perez

Lucas Perez returns to Arsenal hoping to reignite his career. The best thing for him might be Danny Welbeck’s contract, that may force the Gunners into selling the equally versatile attacker.

In some quarters of the Arsenal media coverage, there were suggestions that Lucas Perez was never really wanted by Arsene Wenger. The Spaniard arrived late in the 2016 window. Jamie Vardy, a player extremely comparable to Perez in style and career trajectory, was the first target. When that deal fell through, other targets were either priced out or didn’t quite convince, the club settled on Perez.

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It was fairly clear, by the end of his first season at the Emirates, that those suggestions had some truth to them. Even though Perez impressed in his rare outings, Wenger never trusted him in the Premier League, shunted him out of the squad, and ending up releasing him from his duties before the season ended.

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Last summer, therefore, Perez, inevitably, wanted an exit. He got one. In the form of a loan to his former club, Deportivo la Coruna. It didn’t work out. He was largely criticised by a fanbase that previously adorned him. He scored only scored eight goals in 31 La Liga appearances and was emblematically seen as the cause for Deportivo’s relegation.

But now, upon his return to the Emirates, Perez finds a very different club, one that is no longer run by a manager who had little time for him, one that is turning in a new direction, on and off the pitch, one that has sold many of the old guard that formerly kept Perez in the shadows He has the chance to resurrect a quickly withering career, as long as he can forge a role for himself in Unai Emery’s new era.

The role that he will likely pitch for is the versatile, reserve attacker who provides reliable and experienced depth at a number of different positions. And, actually, the only real competition that he faces is from Danny Welbeck, and there could well be some further joy found in that for Perez.

Welbeck is in the final year of his contract. There has been very little suggestion that he and the club are close to an extension with both parties having reason to want a split: Welbeck may want to leave to try and find a regular starting role for himself, something that he will not find in north London; Arsenal may want a more clinical, consistent goalscorer than Welbeck to support Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette.

If either Arsenal or Welbeck prefer to not agree to a new contract, then a sale this summer suddenly becomes the most likely outcome. It will be the only chance to recoup any value and Welbeck will be happy to leave to find a club where he can play and bypass another season on the bench. And if recent reports are to be believed, there are some interested clubs.

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As such, for Perez and his quest for redemption and reinvigoration, his biggest asset might end up being the contract of Welbeck. It remains to be seen who Emery prefers of the two, but if Welbeck’s contract becomes to big a thorn in the side, it might not matter. Perez, somehow, could well be in prime position to stay.