As long as nobody seems to be coming even though we were at one point linked with Batshuayi, Origi, Niasse and Cenk Tosun, I might as well put this one here.

Lucas Perez- Spanish player able to play as center forward or winger, left footed, fights a lot and contributes to many goals.

Wasn't even in the squad for today's West Ham match with Pellegrini quoted as saying that he prefers other options. Even if Arnautovic does go to China (as per latest reports), they will surely bring a replacement for him (Maxi Gomez from Celta?) and they'll have for 2 central spots up front: Arnautovic/new striker, Carroll, Nasri, Chicharito. No room for Perez (just to make myself clear, this is because Pellegrini is an idiot, cause Perez has played 572 minutes for West Ham until now and scored 4 goals, better than all their strikers)

That being said, a lot of teams from Spain are watching him, even very good ones, this article saying these are FC BARCELONA, Atletico Madrid, Valencia and Betis. So...if Barcelona and Atletico Madrid want him, then surely I must have said something right when I talked about him the other month.

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The reason why he is wanted there is because he has proven himself to be very good for mid-table or relegation threatened teams and has a great goals and assists ratio in few minutes: 40 goals and 25 assists in the last 3 years for Deportivo la Coruna, Arsenal and West Ham in 7900 minutes.

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The best thing is that he cost West Ham only 4 million and they will want only about that to sell him. He also has a decent salary for a forward who scores goals at 80.000 a week (at least compared to Chicharito's 140.000 a week or Benteke's 100.000 a week)

Edited by mattteo (19 Jan 2019 6.52pm)

Arsenal signed Perez from Deportivo La Coruna for £17 Mill but he never really made an impact there and he was loaned back to his old club where he scored 9 goals in 37 apps.W.Ham signed him for the relative paltry sum of £4 Mill + add-ons.Has scored only 2 goals this season in 10 PL games but I think most,if not all of his appearances have been from the bench.

Left-footed, he can play as the main striker, the second striker or in a deeper role.Good technical quality, makes direct runs and can link with the midfield.I have seen him cross with his weaker right-foot when he has been out wide on the right.

Edited by Willo (22 Jan 2019 10.43am)

Thanks for that load of drivel. Matteo has already covered all of that mate. The difference is Matteo knows his stuff, you just do a google search.

How about Andy Carol as a sledge hammer

He’s completely flopped at both PL clubs he’s played for - the goals and assists you’ve quoted in the last a few years are nearly exclusively in cup completions - his PL record is atrocious.

In 16/17 he made 20 PL Apps for Arsenal, starting 11 of them, and scored 1 goal.

He has not flopped at all. This is exactly the type of thinking that is damaging, measuring player according to the number of matches. What if he just comes on for 4-5 minutes in those matches? Does it still count as 20 matches??

What if I tell you he didn't play more than 500 minutes in his usual position as striker and still managed to score 4 goals??

At Arsenal they kept on using him only as winger. Kind of hard to score from that position (at least as much as center forwards do). Try putting Benteke on the wing and see of he scores that much. Oh, wait...

This is EXACTLY the kind of player who is cheap because people don't realize that his big number of matches is actually a small number of minutes and his value is kept down BECAUSE of that statistic you give of just 20 appearances and 1 goal making people suspect him a flop.

This is exactly why people like me are good at this job, observing what others can't, seeing a player who others don't and getting him on the cheap when his value should be much, much higher and he WILL score BIG TIME if he is played, this I could almost guarantee if I were a scout.

Also, your stats above is bulls*it. Where are those 11 starts for Arsenal in those 20 appearances in that 16/17 PL season? I'll pay you 100 dollars if you find more than 2 starts. And they were both as winger

Edited by mattteo (22 Jan 2019 7.10pm)

Of course he hasn't flopped; the fact he couldn't get into the first XI for neither West Ham nor Arsenal is pure coincidence. The 3 Premier League goals he's managed since joining in 2016 make him a real success.

To challenge your points;

You introduced the idea of Perez's versatility in your OP, yet now you argue it's unfair to judge him when not played up front - which is it?

There are so many flaws with your obsession with minutes/goals as the predominant comparative measure;

Why do you think he has so few minutes in the PL? Could it be because he wasn't deemed good enough by his managers and coaches? Could it be that he has a bad injury record? Poor attitude? All of these are factors in judging a player, and all contribute to how many minutes they get on the pitch - his numbers on that front are pathetic.

Nearly always, the best players play the most minutes in their best positions - if you're telling me the bloke has only played 500 minutes in his preferred position in 3 years, that is a million miles from being a positive. I'm asking why on earth is that the case?

Attackers coming off the bench are generally bought on because their team is chasing a game - naturally, their goal/minute stats can be massively inflated because of this.

Your point about 'people like me being good at this job' - what job do you do exactly? I was under the impression you're not professionally involved at all?

The arrogance of your posts is really something to behold.