Lucas Perez could be on his way to Portugal next season as Benfica reportedly consider a move for the Spanish forward.

Lucas

Lucas was sent home on loan after just one season at Arsenal. Despite impressing when he got a chance with Arsenal, it was clear that Arsene Wenger didn’t fancy him as a player and he left last summer.

But his return has not been anything like his first spell with Deportivo.

A hero when he left, they even offered him a massive long-term deal to keep him at the club. He rejected their offer and headed to London.

Six goals and five assists in 32 La Liga games is a very poor return from a player who scored 17 (with 10 assists) the season before he joined Arsenal.

He’s now being linked with a move to Benfica as it seems unlikely Deportivo will extend his stay into next season.

His agent, however, does not seem to think a permanent move to Benfica would be viable. Rodrigo Lovelle told O Jogo, “The Portuguese clubs can’t afford the three million euros net that he receives and which he cannot abdicate. For the Portuguese reality, you can only fit in the context of a loan.”

Of course, now that Wenger is leaving, there is the possibility that he could return to Arsenal to try and fight for a place under the new manager.

Speaking last summer when Wenger signed his new deal, Lucas’s agent said, “If everything is still the same and the coach is the same, in theory the opportunities are going to be the same, few, and our idea is to leave. We know that Arsenal is the ‘owner’ of the player, and that contract says that its duration is three more seasons.”

Any decision about his future will not be taken until a new manager is in place and he has had a chance to chat with the 29-year-old.

Arsenal have 15 players out on loan this season and you can read about how they have all done this season by clicking next…

In total, Arsenal sent 15 players on loan this season between the summer and January windows, so let’s take a look at how those spells are going for each of them.

by Dan Critchlow

Emi Martinez

• Position: Goalkeeper
• Loaned to: Getafe – La Liga (summer transfer window)
• Appearances: 6
• Clean sheets: 2

As you can probably tell by the number of appearances, this season hasn’t been the best possible use of Martinez’s time. Although the 25-year-old generally does well when called upon, that hasn’t been very often at all. In fact, it took until January for him to get his first league minutes.

On the upside, at least he’s almost always been in the squad. That’s more than he would get at Arsenal this season.

Loan rating: 3/10

Stephy Mavididi

First loan:

• Position: Centre-forward
• Loaned to: Preston North End – Championship (summer transfer window)
• Appearances: 11

Second loan:

• Position: Centre-forward/Winger
• Loaned to: Charlton Athletic – League One (winter transfer window)
• Appearances: 11
• Goals: 2
• Assists: 1

The first half of Mavididi’s season was a bit of a disaster. 11 appearances sounds like a fair amount of game-time, but he only made three league starts. The 19-year-old completed 90 minutes on one occasion in all competitions for Preston.

After that, he moved to Charlton in January, and is performing much better. He scored in his first game returning to the club, and helped push them up into the play-off places.

Another hamstring injury slowed his progress down though, which is disappointing after the same thing happened last year. He’s back playing again now though, and earning praise from the fans.

First loan rating: 1/10

Second loan rating: 6/10

Marc Bola

• Position: Left-back
• Loaned to: Bristol Rovers – League One (summer transfer window)
• Appearances: 23
• Assists: 1

Bola has never put together more than four league games in a row throughout the entire season, but nonetheless he has had a fair amount of game time overall. 20 starts in all competitions is more than most Arsenal loanees have managed.

The 20-year-old is starting to reach the stage where he needs to make a decision on his future, whether that’s at Arsenal or somewhere else. This loan spell at least shows he’s capable of playing in the men’s game though, so that’s a good sign.

Loan rating: 6/10

Lucas Perez

• Position: Centre-forward
• Loaned to: Deportivo La Coruna – La Liga (summer transfer window)
• Appearances: 34
• Goals: 7
• Assists: 7

This really hasn’t been the return to Deportivo Perez wanted. At one point he went almost five months without a goal in all competitions as they slipped down into the relegation zone.

Now he’s helping them in a late revival, with two assists and a goal in his last five games. They’ve closed the gap on Levante in 17th, but still need a miracle to stay up. If they go down, I can’t see Perez making the move permanent.

Unfortunately he’s now worth less than he was last summer, and Arsenal couldn’t even offload him then. At least he played regularly throughout the year without injuries.

Loan rating: 4/10

Joel Campbell

• Position: Winger
• Loaned to: Real Betis – La Liga (summer transfer window)
• Appearances: 8
• Goals: 1
• Assists: 1

It’s another season plagued by injuries and struggles to break into the team for poor Joel. At first he was out with a knee injury, but returned in October in spectacular fashion, scoring and assisting in his first 13 minutes on the pitch.

Then, before even completing 90 combined minutes of league football, he sprained his ankle. Finally he came back to training in March, and he’s made a couple of brief substitute appearances since then, but Getafe are obviously wary of over-exerting him too soon.

Hopefully he plays a bit more in the final month of the season, but the key thing for him is to stay fit ahead of the summer’s World Cup.

Loan rating: 2/10

Jeff Reine-Adelaide

• Position: Winger/Attacking midfielder
• Loaned to: Angers – Ligue 1 (winter transfer window)
• Appearances: 8

It’s nice to see Jeff playing senior football again, since he hasn’t had much luck with Arsenal.

Mostly the problem is his fitness, and that’s not exactly any different in France so far. Although he’s up to 8 appearances, none of them were the full 90 minutes, and the most recent left him with a slight knock to his ankle.

Still, it’s been a decent short loan spell, and should prepare him well for pre-season with the Arsenal first-team.

Loan rating: 6/10

Ben Sheaf

• Position: Defensive midfielder
• Loaned to: Stevenage – League Two (winter transfer window)
• Appearances: 9

Sheaf’s loan spell started out with an injury, which is never the best way to get going. After that though, he’s made regular starts, completed 90 minutes on six occasions, and seems pleased with how things are going.

As with so many of this list of loanees, Sheaf was having some fitness troubles before he was sent out. The main aim was really just for him to get playing, and that’s what he’s doing.

Hopefully Sheaf will get a few more games in the final months of the season, but it’s good news so far.

Loan rating: 7/10

Krystian Bielik

• Position: Centre-back
• Loaned to: Walsall FC – League One (winter transfer window)
• Appearances: 0

Krystian Bielik’s loan may as well have not taken place.

The Polish centre-back has been injured the entire time, and is yet to make his debut. After his promising temporary switch to Birmingham last season, it’s really disappointing he hasn’t made any senior appearances for anyone in 2017/18.

Loan rating: 0/10

Chuba Akpom

• Position: Centre-forward
• Loaned to: Sint-Truiden – Juliper League (winter transfer window)
• Appearances: 9
• Goals: 2

It was really important for Akpom, now 22, that he got a loan somewhere and pushed on. His last loan spell to Brighton was disappointing, and he wasn’t any better in the Arsenal first-team this season.

It’s good to see him get a couple of goals, as four of his five other loan spells ended without one. He still needs to do more in the final games to convince Arsene Wenger he’s worth playing, or other clubs he’s worth signing. Still, it’s a decent start so far.

Loan rating: 6/10

Takuma Asano

• Position: Centre-forward/Winger
• Loaned to: VfB Stuttgart – Bundesliga (summer transfer window)
• Appearances: 18
• Goals: 1
• Assists: 1

Things started pretty well for Asano, as he made regular appearances for the team. He struggled to get on the score-sheet though, and only managed to finally do so in late November.

A few games after that first goal the manager dropped him, and never brought him back into the frame. For a while he struggled to even get into the squad, let alone the starting eleven.

Recently the 23-year-old’s first-team chances seem to have ended entirely, and now he’s playing for the Stuttgart youth team. He has one goal and one assist in two matches with the young side.

Loan rating: 2/10

Carl Jenkinson

• Position: Right-back
• Loaned to: Birmingham City – Championship (summer transfer window)
• Appearances: 9

32 minutes into his debut for Birmingham, Jenkinson injured his shoulder, and didn’t return until mid-January. After that he got a run in the team, and they lost every single game. He did manage one draw in the FA Cup, but then they lost in the replay.

Unsurprisingly, the City manager decided to try something else, and Jenkinson hasn’t been in the squad since 10 March.

Loan rating: 1/10

Cohen Bramall

• Position: Left-back
• Loaned to: Birmingham City – Championship (summer transfer window)
• Appearances: 8

Bramall has had a very similar season to Jenkinson. The only difference is he doesn’t have the excuse of suffering an injury. Also, at least one of his eight matches was a win, 3-1 against Sheffield Wednesday. Other than that he took part in six defeats and the same FA Cup draw as Jenkinson. His last match was in February.

Loan rating: 1/10

Tafari Moore

• Position: Right-back
• Loaned to: Wycombe Wanderers – League Two (winter transfer window)
• Appearances: 13

Moore made a great start with Wycombe, almost scoring one of the goals of the season and performing impressively. He remained in the team almost every game until April, when he picked up a knock.

After missing three games his manager says he’s close to a return, and Moore should feature in the final matches of the season.

The 20-year-old is one of very few Arsenal loanees to hold down a spot the entire time he was fit, and it seems like he’s done enough to help them to automatic promotion. A very successful short loan spell.

Loan rating: 8/10

Julio Pleguezuelo

• Position: Centre-back
• Loaned to: Gimnastic – La Liga 2 (winter transfer window)
• Appearances: 7

It feels like this is true for almost every loanee, but Pleguezuelo also put a run of games together before suffering an injury. Gimnastic certainly had a better defensive record with him in the team than in the rest of the season though, so that’s a positive.

He is expected back this weekend. Hopefully he can return before the end of the season and help them avoid relegation.

Loan rating: 6/10

Kelechi Nwakali

First loan:

• Position: Winger/Attacking-midfielder
• Loaned to: VVV-Venlo – Eredivisie (summer transfer window)
• Appearances: 12
• Goals: 1

Second loan:

• Position: Attacking-midfielder
• Loaned to: MVV Maastricht – Eerste Divisie (winter transfer window)
• Appearances: 16
• Goals: 4
• Assists: 1

Like Stephy Mavididi, Nwakali had a very disappointing first loan spell. You wouldn’t have thought it from his debut, when he came on and scored an equaliser in injury-time. Unfortunately he never really got going after that, and only played 480 minutes in all competitions (a bit more than five matches’ worth).

Arsenal recalled him and sent him back to fellow Netherlands side Maastricht, one league down, where he played last season. In the couple of months since then he’s more than doubled his minutes. He’s also getting on the score-sheet, and winning more of his games.

It’s not all perfect, and went through a bit of a poor run, with three defeats in four games. Overall though, it’s been a much better loan spell for the second half of the season.

First loan rating: 2/10

Second loan rating: 7/10