Arsene Wenger had earlier stated that the club were close to completing the signings of two players after their win over Watford on Saturday and now one of them has been announced officially on their website.
Lucas Perez who was one of Deportivo La Coruna’s best players scored 17 goals and registered 8 assists. At 27, the Spaniard has had his breakthrough season and is at the peak of oh his powers.
After failing to land primary targets Alexandre Lacazette and Jamie Vardy, Wenger has turned to the speedy forward to solve the club’s striker problems. The move is reported to have cost around €17 million.
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Perez can also play on the wings and is known to have blistering pace. Wenger spoke about the player after he completed his move.
“He’s not only a goalscorer, he’s a guy who combines well with partners, who can give a final ball and makes good runs. He’s got a good eye for goal and had an outstanding season last year.”
Perez has scored or assisted more goals than any other Spanish player in La Liga since the start of last season. Perez created a club record last season by scoring 7 goals in 7 consecutive games.
He is yet to receive a squad number and only regulatory processes need to be completed. Perez is now the 4th summer signing the club have made after the likes of Granit Xhaka, Rob Holding and Takuma Asano.
Perez has played for a host clubs before finally earning a move to his hometown club Deportivo La Coruna in August of last year. He was also a target for Barcelona this summer but the Catalans have now signed Paco Alcacer.
The 27-year-old has played for the likes of PAOK, Karpaty Lviv and Rayo as well. Arsenal had reportedly looked at Perez a month ago and decided not to sign him after the scout report but have made a U-Turn on him since then.
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Wenger also confirmed that a deal for the German defender is close. The soon to be former Valencia man spoke to Sky Sports about the move and mentioned Mesut Ozil was the man who convinced him to join the club.
Wenger has been hit by an injury crisis at the back with the likes of Per Mertesacker and Gabriel out injured. Holding ended deputizing in all three games the Gunners have played so far in the league
