Lucas Perez is expected in London today (Friday) ahead of his move to Arsenal for €20m according to a number of reports coming out of the local press.
By Wednesday evening reports were starting to emerge that Arsenal were moving for Deportivo’s Lucas Perez and trying to get ahead of Everton, who had been speaking with the player for a while.
Fast forward a few hours and Arsenal had a bid in and accepted, plonking €20m down and activating the forward’s release clause.
A brief panic ensued when it was being claimed that Arsenal had scuppered the deal for themselves by only offering to pay the transfer fee in two instalments, something the Spanish side wanted to avoid.
But panic not as the the local press were soon reporting that Arsenal’s bid had been accepted, the player had agreed to join and would sign the deal in the ‘coming hours.’
And then the Ornacle got involved
Arsenal have beaten Everton to signing of Deportivo La Coruna striker Lucas Perez. Deal agreed, #AFC meeting €20m release clause, 17.1m #EFC
— David Ornstein (@bbcsport_david) August 25, 2016
These claims were then followed (and preceded) by reports that he was expected in London on Friday (Arsenal love a Friday announcement).
And then Superdeporte said that Depor will only receive €10.5m of the €24.2m Arsenal have to pay, thanks to taxes and sell-on clauses and that he would not be in the squad to face Betis.
Then Deportivo confirmed that he had, indeed, been dropped from the squad:
Lucas, con permiso del #DÉPOR, se cae de la lista de convocados para el choque ante el Betis https://t.co/pw4wxjcXss pic.twitter.com/VQHLc4VjGx
— RC Deportivo (@RCDeportivo) August 25, 2016
And that, at the time of writing, seems to be that.
Lucas Perez. Arsenal’s new number 9?
It would certainly seem that way.