Arsenal: Lucas Perez Revelation Should Put Fears To Rest

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.
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.