Arsenal: Lucas Perez Revelation Should Put Fears To Bed
Arsenal’s brand new striker Lucas Perez has revealed that Wenger has been after him since January. Does this revelation change anything?
One of the things that made Granit Xhaka’s acquisition so special was that we knew Wenger had been trying to bring him to Arsenal for at least the past year. He had touched base with him the previous summer, followed up in January and by the time the summer rolled around, it was a done deal.
That same dose of forethought was not blatantly seen with new striker Lucas Perez and it got many supporters worrying that Lucas was a panic buy and nothing more than a desperate attempt to fill the gap.
However, Lucas has come out and revealed something that should put those fears to bed.
“The Arsenal offer came just days before the end of the transfer window. But I knew about the interest of Arsenal for a long time. They showed interest in me during the January transfer window but then I couldn’t leave,” he said, via the Daily Express. He went on:
“They also showed interest in me after the end of La Liga. But then, they have their way of working and the offer came only days before the end of the market.”
By the sounds of it, that bit of forethought that Wenger frequently uses was also applied to Lucas, it was just put off in the summer when another candidate or two rose to the front (Wissam Ben-Yedder, Alexandre Lacazette or, dare I say it again, Antoine Griezmann).
So any calls of ‘desperation’ should be put to rest. That is, unless Lucas is blowing smoke in our faces to try to distract us from a true act of desperation, but there is no reason to believe that ridiculous conspiracy theory.
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Lucas has all the makings of a Wenger signing. He is extremely under the radar (even moreso in January), he is a winger-turned-striker, couldn’t capitalize on massive early potential and has a fantastic team spirit. Or team play, if team spirit sounds too corny for you.
I keep citing this stat, but he created eight assists and two chances per game last season on a team that finished 15th in La Liga. As if 17 goals wasn’t enough. He made the most out of a bad situation in his first year at a new position.
Wenger is a great judge of talent. Sure, he has made some missteps, everyone has. But some of the talents he has unearthed have been incredibly special, especially the ones he really sets his mind to.
And now we know that Wenger has wanted him for eight months? If this doesn’t invigorate your faith in the Spaniard, then I don’t know what will. I guess some goals for Arsenal would be a good start.
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