Lucas Perez (Transfer complete)

I dont know if this Geoff guy is real or just another wanker but he said Arsenal can still (after spending 17m on this guys and 26 on Mustagi) spend upto 75m on a CF, if the right player is available. David Ornstein also replied and agreed with him.

I’d be a lot more optimistic regarding this signing if I saw the club investing in u23 forward talents. Asano is a start, but we need more.

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That’s just like saying all the billionaires in the world could band together and end world hunger.

Possible but just not happening.

If we get Perez and the CB our window is done.

I honestly thought the consensus amongst the fans was that we should move away from developing young talents and signed established players who are ready now. I get th who economic aspect of selling U-23 talent on for a profit but it’s unlikely we’d see something like that under Wenger

Didn’t that idea die at least 6 months ago? I don’t know where you guys always come up with these names, but I’m pretty sure we’ve long gone past the idea of signing him or most players that are rated at 50-60m or more for no reason at all.

I haven’t really seen much of him. I have looked him up on youtube, and he looks impressive. I know youtube cuts only take the best of him, but he did look good with the ball at his feet, has strength, has good pace and can find the back of the net and good crosses. He’s 27 and has come up through the ranks- a late bloomer. Whilst it’s not a big money signing of a well established and already WC player, he looks like a good addition. Frankly, whilst I would’ve loved to have seen Lewandowski or Lacazette, it was never going to happen with those tight purse strings. This player looks like he could be a gem, like he could be very exciting. And we need another striker.

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Lol! So many messages since my last visit. Any update?

No.

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Just saw a post saying fee has been agreed. That’s all. Of course, have no idea who this guy is.

Arsenal & Deportivo have reached an agreement for the signing of Lucas Perez. €20m straight up. €6m to ex-club PAOK. pic.twitter.com/QXon5dqJga

— Chris Wheatley (@ChrisWheatley_) August 25, 2016

I got a sneaky feeling we are gonna try to get someone on a cheap on the last day :santi:

In a shit league. Fuck this signing. One fucking job…this club had one fucking job…and they can’t do it. They can never do it.

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He’s a striker, so get it done! I’m not expecting any more signings so at least I can hope this bloke might come good. Having a good injury record will be a start.

https://twitter.com/ChrisWheatley_/status/768844880160419841

https://twitter.com/ChrisWheatley_/status/768847384726110208

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A few hours ago we were cheaping out in typical Arsenal fashion by doing it in two payments…

The Premier League has been as shit, if not shittier, than La Liga. I agree this is a very underwhelming signing and has Soldado mk II written all over it, but no reason to hate on a League which dominates Europe.

i think thats the normal procedure for every transfer. no one pays all money in one go.

I take it Griezman has finally answered our text message and told us to get fucked.

Maybe he works out, maybe he doesn’t. Meh.

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I know next to nothing about Perez.

He is almost 28 so you wouldn’t think that he’d get much better but he has had such a weird career and is coming so late to the CF position that there may still be some upside. If he can do a job for us for the next years, perhaps in some form of rotation with Giroud depending on matchups/tactics, while we find a younger striker to groom then I could see this being a good buy.

I could also see him just being the latest addition to Wenger’s stable of just-not-good-enough strikers but lets give him time, support him, and hope for the best (assuming he is actually coming).

https://moarfootball.com/2016/08/25/a-deportivo-la-coruna-fan-on-lucas-perez/

Lucas Pérez will be announced in the next 24 hours as an Arsenal player. As a Deportivo de la Coruña fan, I thought it right to scribble some musings on Lucas as a player.

You’ll read a lot in the coming days/weeks about Lucas from people who, quite frankly, watched him very little (if at all). I’m going to condense his history as a footballer into one small paragraph, since I assume most readers just want to know what kind of player he is and if he suits Arsenal.

Lucas is a Deportivo fan, born and bred. He used to sit in the stands with the Riazor Blues, now he represents the club (although not for long). He’s spent two phenomenal years at Depor, clinching goals that secured survival in back-to-back seasons. He even broke the club record of goals scored in consecutive games, toppling Brazilian legend Bebeto. Lucas performed against the biggest of clubs (as evidenced with two goals in two games at the Camp Nou), as well as the smallest of them too. To join Depor, Lucas had to travel around Europe first. When he did arrive, it included minimising his wage by triple and leaving a Champions League club (PAOK). The love and adoration he has for the club has also seen him turn down Leicester, Southampton, Napoli, Zenit & Sevilla this summer. But, when Arsenal come knocking, it’s hard to resist. Especially when you’re 27, at the peak of your game and performing at a club far smaller in current stature.

Now, about Lucas as a player. It says a lot that Arsene Wenger swooped in for the Spaniard after being turned down by Jamie Vardy. Stylistically, both are the same type of player: lean forwards with bags of speed and energy, always raring to break the defensive line and find themselves one-on-one. In fact, much like Vardy, Lucas suits the counter-attacking style of football. A style that Arsenal irregularly employ, which may be a sticking point. If Wenger does switch for this sort of style, which could be supported by the fact he’s chased down two identical strikers this summer, Arsenal may just have pulled off a bargain considering the current market.

“Lucas isn’t a prolific goal scorer” – that’s something you’ll be reading a lot over the coming days, supported of course by baseless statistics that don’t consider the fact that he only started playing as a striker last season. He’s often been an interior or attacking-midfielder, sticking close to the striker on his team. Arsenal have Olivier Giroud, a striker synonymous with performing at his best when he has a player that operates closely with him (Griezmann for France, occasionally Walcott for Arsenal). Lucas offers Wenger that duality in style: he can be the counter-attacking striker that punishes opposition defences or he can be a foil and creator for Giroud.

Lucas amassed eight assists and 17 goals last year. A career high. While that may seem measly in a time where footballers are filling their boots with 40+ goals per season, one has to consider the club. As a Deportivo fan, I have struggled in the last 5-6 years with strikers who end as top scorers for the club with just 7-10 goals. The issue they all have in common is a lack of creator in the side. Strikers are often forced to carve out their own chances here, so that’s a testament to Lucas’ comfortability and quality as a forward. He chases down possession, effortlessly carries the game forward and then applies a slick finishing touch. This, with no creator. Arsenal have Mesut Özil – a player crying out for more goal scorers to support – and the likes of a supporting cast of Santi Cazorla, Aaron Ramsey etc. The list goes on. Lucas had virtually nobody last season, nor the season before that. He was plucking goals out of nothing, such as the one embedded below.

Lucas has also shown that he can bring the best out of players around him. Luis Alberto, for example, had his best season knocking in goals for Sevilla’s B team. At Liverpool & Málaga, he was fairly poor. At Depor, though, we saw the best of Luis Alberto. Why? Because Lucas, when working in tandem with another forward, is a fantastic footballer. And if he strikes this partnership with, say, Alexis or Giroud, then Arsenal fans are likely to be salivating come the end of the summer.

Am I saying he’s perfect for Arsenal? Not really. There are a few caveats. Will Wenger arrange the system around him? That’s one. But the other comes as part of Lucas’ main issue: he takes a few chances before he puts one away. That may frustrate some, but it’s also worth looking at the other side of things: will he score more if he’s less inclined to snap away at the half chances he creates and simply latch onto a perfectly weighted pass instead? Lucas also requires a bit of freedom if his game is to truly prosper. It’s far from clear what his role will be, but he is an upgrade on all of Arsenal’s wingers (bar Alexis) at the very least.

And, just briefly, since I mentioned Alexis, Arsenal fans will love Lucas Pérez for the same reason they love the Chilean. He works extremely hard – and not in an English “he runs about a bit” type. Lucas will bust a lung to revive a loose ball and, once he collects it, he will carry it forward. Unlike Alexis, though, Lucas is less of a dribbler so will look to release possession to a team-mate once he wins the ball back.

Is he perfect? No. And is he the striker Arsenal 100% wanted this summer? No. But I think he could prove to be an exceptional capture if, as aforementioned, the system is arranged to suit his game. He could be the perfect partner for Giroud and Alexis. Stylistically speaking, Wenger has a very versatile player on his hands that could be the key to saving what has been a miserable summer & start to the season.

I’d like to wish Lucas the best at Arsenal. Thank you for helping the city of A Coruña dream again; for the goals, the assists, the times you picked the team up from the rubble surrounding it. Thank you for that goal that sparked the revival against Barcelona that kept us up; the goal against Villarreal that also secured our safety the year after. Noraboa, boa sorte.

My favourite Lucas Pérez moment: he tells Germán Lux that he will save Nolito’s penalty in the derby game, then tells Nolito he’s going to miss. Both things happen, and Lucas celebrates like this:

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