Lucas Perez has left West Ham United for La Liga side Deportivo Alaves, admitting that he wants to restart his career far away from London.

West Ham announced on Monday that Perez would be returning to Spain with Alaves on a permanent deal for an undisclosed fee. Rumours suggest this fee is around €2.5m (£2.21m), representing a loss of a couple of million from the fee the Hammers paid Arsenal for the forward just a year earlier.

Writing on Twitter after the move was confirmed, Perez wrote that he was leaving West Ham “in order to start a new adventure far away from London”. He admitted that it “wasn’t an easy season” for him and he “would have liked to have more chances”, before going on to say the usual thank-yous.

What is so strange about Perez’s career in England is that his goal/assist return was actually pretty good, yet he never managed to hold down a place with either Arsenal or West Ham.

The striker scored eight and assisted six in 22 games for the Gunners, and added another six goals in 19 games for West Ham, for a total of one goal contribution every 87.5 minutes with the two clubs. Nonetheless, he clearly feels better suited to Spanish football.