In his column for the Chronicle, Newcastle United legend Mick Quinn has stated that Ayoze Perez needs to be more influential on the pitch.
Newcastle United were handed a huge boost over the summer after Ayoze Perez decided to stay put at St. James’ Park despite the club’s relegation and many felt that the Spaniard would be playing a key role this season in guiding the Magpies back into the Premier League.
While Newcastle have done very well so far in the Championship, Perez has surprisingly struggled for form and this can be evidenced by the fact that he has scored only 1 goal in 8 appearances during the current campaign.
The likes of Dwight Gayle and Aleksandar Mitrovic clearly seem to be ahead of Perez in the pecking order at Newcastle and now club legend Mick Quinn has gone on to speak regarding the struggles of the young striker.
Quinn stated that Perez is simply not influencing matches when he is on the pitch and has urged the 23-year-old to find the back the net on a more frequent basis.
The 54-year-old wrote in his column for the Chronicle, “Newcastle have bossed a lot of opponents without scoring the goals, so it can only be a good thing that Aleksandar Mitrovic scored a couple for Serbia on Sunday.
“You want people who are not in the team banging at the door. I think Rafa Benitez sees Dwight Gayle as his No 1 striker but he can’t play every game. I’m not sure if Ayoze Perez is the answer because for me he’s neither one thing or the other at the moment.
“He falls somewhere between being an out-and-out striker and a No 10. He needs to score and make more goals for me. He’s got some great pieces of skill – he can do things I never could – but he’s got to have more effect on the team performance-wise if he wants more time on the pitch.”