Is Arsenal Summer Signing Leaving In January?? Player’s Agent Clarifies Situation
Nov 23, 2016 at 5:07 PM
Arsenal forward Lucas Perez hasn’t had the start to his Emirates career that he would have envisaged.
The £17m summer signing has played just 87 minutes of Premier League action since his arrival from Deportivo in late August, and with Alexis Sánchez’s unexpected conversion to a central role this season, Lucas now finds himself below both the Chilean international and Olivier Giroud in the pecking order.
A knee injury picked up in an EFL Cup game against Reading in October hasn’t helped matters, as it has sidelined the 28-year-old for a significant period of time.
His general lack of involvement has already led to suggestions that manager Arsene Wenger could already be prepared to offload him with the likes of Napoli and Inter interested in acquiring him on loan in January.
Italian outlet CalcioMercato caught up with Pérez’s agent Rodrigo Fernandez Llovelle, however, and the rumours were strongly rebuffed.
“Lucas is not playing because he is injured. He has no intention of leaving, Arsenal and Wenger are very happy with him. Maybe try asking them!
“He was playing, but he hurt his ankle. He’s been out for over a month.
“He’s only thinking about Arsenal at the moment.”
The striker has made seven appearances thus far for his new side, in which he has scored three goals. With Alexis in such good form (and, indeed, Giroud making scoring contributions from the bench) Lucas will have his work cut out for him if he is to carve out a career at the club.