The agent of Lucas Perez has confirmed that the striker wants to leave Arsenal this summer, revealing that his asking price is deemed ‘too high’, also confirming the clubs battling for his signature.
Newcastle’s interest in Perez was confirmed by The Chronicle earlier this week and Fernandez Lovelle, Perez’s agent, has since had the following to say on the Spaniard’s future:
“Lucas Perez is calm, he has to train and worry about preparing for the season.
“He wants to play, he has said he wants to leave, but we also know that he has a three-year contract with a club that he signed 11 months ago.
“At least we already have that asking price – we consider it high and disproportionate because in the end he is a player who cost Arsenal €21 million and now comes after a year in which he has not played much and with a repayment of €5m per year to be distributed over four years.”
It had been suggested that Arsenal’s asking price was £13.4m, but given Lovelle suggests it has been set to high, we’re left wondering if it is in fact more than than that – surely £13.4m can’t be deemed ‘too high’ in this day and age?
The agent then goes on to discuss the interested parties, confirming interest from former club Deportivo and Turkish giants Fenerbahce among others:
“It’s important to be clear – it’s impossible that Lucas Perez can go to Deportivo today.
“To this day the best offer is from Deportivo
“There is a lot of interest in the French league, the Turkish league, the Premier League , the Bundesliga.
“Fenerbahce are the most serious and we have been in talks for two months.”
“It’s normal, we’re talking about an Arsenal player who did not play a lot there but he’s the only one who scored in four competitions.”
Newcastle clearly face stiff competition, and recent reports have suggested Perez may be out of our price range, making us wonder again if the rumoured £13.4m is actually accurate?
Sky Sports’ Pete Graves has since revealed some of the interested parties – with Sevilla appearing to be a formidable competitor – also questioning whether Arsenal would be reluctant to sell to potential Premier League rivals:
#nufc keen on Lucas Perez but face competition from Deportivo, Sevilla, Fenerbache and a team in Germany. #AFC could prevent move to rival?
— Pete Graves (@PeteGravesSky) August 3, 2017
At this stage, it appears that we were hoping to do a loan deal – which makes sense given our limited resources – however it seems that deal would not suit Arsenal.
There’s little doubt Perez would be a exciting signing, but it sounds as if player sales might be essential to fund any move, with the club frantically attempting to offload the likes of Tim Krul, Massaido Haidara, Emmanuel Riviere and Grant Hanley to make space and generate funds for new arrivals.
