The Daily Star produced an article entitled “The 27 worst signings to (dis)grace the Premier League this season,” and, they’ve included both Lucas Perez and Jack Wilshere.

The article details the worst acquisitions of the campaign and it highlighted Jack Wilshere’s loan move to Bournemouth and Lucas Perez’s £17m switch from Deportivo as two of the worst decisions this season.

To be honest, they couldn’t be further from the truth.

Jack Wilshere was Bournemouth’s creator-in-chief and a key player in their side before sustaining a hairline fracture against Tottenham last month, cutting his loan spell short as a result. But, two assists and no goals, so he must’ve been a flop right?

That’s where the misconception begins.

His Premier League statistics this season (source: WhoScored):

  • 27 matches played, 1918 minutes in total
  • Created 34 chances and 32 key passes
  • Maintained a pass completion rate of 84%, whilst suffering 48 fouls from opponents
  • A better take-on percentage (70%, 57 completed) than top goalscorer Josh King, Junior Stanislas and Callum Wilson

As he represents Arsenal and his statistics in terms of goal contribution don’t seem too impressive though, he’s definitely a flop.

Lucas is another player highlighted in this article and really, it’s quite unsettling to see him there.

He has missed the best part of FOUR months of football across all competitions with various injuries, but because he’s only scored one league goal in eleven appearances this season? Flop.

Let’s take a deeper look at those stats, shall we:

  • 11 Premier League appearances, 265 minutes in total (average of 24 per match)
  • Seven chances created, another seven key passes
  • Duel percentage of 42.86%

In comparison, Jordon Ibe (Bournemouth), Enner Valencia (Everton), Moussa Sissoko (Spurs) and Manchester City’s Nolito have all featured far more regularly than the Spaniard this season for their respective sides.

All five feature in this list but Lucas’s overall stats are far more impressive than the other four and if he hadn’t sustained troublesome injuries and had the opportunity to play more regularly his stats would have been anything but a ‘disgrace’.