Lucas Perez’s agent is frustrated with Arsenal’s refusal to budge over the forward’s asking price.
Lucas’s agent, Rodrigo Fernandez Lovelle, certainly isn’t shy when it comes to voicing his opinion. In fact, it’s been pretty difficult to shut him up this summer, with his client pushing for a move away from north London after only signing for Arsenal from Deportivo last year.
Lovelle’s latest grievance with the Gunners is that they won’t lower their asking price for the 28-year-old and Deportivo are finding it hard to buy back the forward they received £17m for last summer. Arsenal are said to be asking for €15m (£13.6m).
The La Liga club have apparently made an offer of €12m – just under £11m – which Arsenal are set to reject, since, you know, they don’t essentially want to just hand Deportivo money. And, predictably, this has angered Lovelle. Again.
“The offer of Deportivo of €12m very much fits with the current market,” Lovelle told La Voz de Galicia.
“Arsenal can’t forget that of the €20m they paid, Deportivo had to give 30% to PAOK, so that only left €14m. And, previously, they had paid the Greek club €1.5m for 70%. By this I mean that with this proposal of €12m they’re giving everything they charged for Lucas.”
The Spaniard continued, “In a few days I’ll go there again to see if we can unlock this. I say the usual. Arsenal won’t concede, but today it’s the 13th. There is still time.
“Arsenal were the first to show they don’t count on the player, because they removed the shirt without consulting him. As the market is, and considering that they are the first to have devalued him, I think that €12m is a very good offer.”
While Deportivo did indeed have to pay PAOK a fee, the Spaniard also made 59 appearances for them, scoring 24 goals and assisted 14. He only featured 21 times for Arsenal.
An interesting point, brought forward by Sport Witness, is that Lucas is so keen to return to Deportivo, that it almost looks like a set up.
Arsenal pay the Spanish club £17m and then a year later, they hand back far less, making a profit.
When you look at it from that perspective, you can understand why the Gunners aren’t exactly falling over themselves to make a significant loss just for the sake of ‘getting rid’ of a player they don’t need.
Newcastle have also been linked with Lucas.