Of all Arsenal’s summer signings, the acquisition of Lucas Perez is the one under the most scrutiny.
Granit Xhaka and Shkodran Mustafi are established internationals, while Rob Holding and Takuma Asano are inexpensive gambles on young talent. Lucas, however, is a relatively unknown quantity.
Nevertheless, the indications are he could prove to be a shrewd purchase.
The first major positive is Arsenal have at least bought a new centre-forward. Lucas wasn’t first-choice—manager Arsene Wenger initially pursued both Jamie Vardy and Alexandre Lacazette, per David Wright of the Daily Express. In previous summers, having failed to land his primary targets, Wenger might have chosen to stick with what he had.
Typically, he prefers to bide his time, waiting for an ideal option to become available. Pragmatism has generally come second to parsimony. This summer, that changed. Perhaps it’s because Wenger is into the final year of his contract and feels time is running out to reclaim his place at the summit of the Premier League. Whatever the cause, having failed to land his first target, he has moved efficiently to secure someone lower on the shopping list.
Manuel Queimadelos Alonso/Getty Images
It’s not difficult to see why there are doubts about Lucas’ quality. He’s not enjoyed a stellar career thus far. Aged 27, he has only risen to prominence in the past 12 months. Spells in the relative footballing backwaters of Greece and Ukraine mean he hardly has the CV required to fill the Arsenal fans with confidence.
However, Wenger clearly believes Lucas is a gamble worth taking. There are encouraging signs there—last season, he bagged 17 goals in LaLiga (19 in all competitions). That’s one league goal more than Olivier Giroud managed at Arsenal and achieved with Deportivo La Coruna—a team hardly duking it out at the top of the table. With better service, he could replicate that tally in England.
He makes sense as an alternative to Vardy. Asked about the comparison between the two players, Wenger said, per Andy Charles of Sky Sports: "Yes, I like that one. He is a late developer, he played in a different position. He moved centrally in a successful way. I think he has good link-up qualities, good finishing qualities. Let's see if we can finish the job."
It’s intriguing that the Arsenal boss mentioned Lucas’ positional switch. Many of Wenger’s best strikers began life on the flanks. The most famous example is Thierry Henry, who was plying his trade as a winger with Juventus before Wenger transformed him into one of the most feared centre-forwards in Europe.
Lucas shares Vardy’s key attribute: speed. Although not quite as quick as the Leicester City man, he is at his best when charging into open space behind the defence.
That style may require a period of adaptation for club and player alike. Arsenal typically prefer slower approach play, which can lead teams to defend deep against them. It seems Lucas and Vardy were targeted to facilitate a shift in style. If the Gunners are able to release a pacy striker early, it will give them a more varied threat and make them less predictable. The signing of Xhaka, able to pick out runners from well inside his own half, will further aid that transition.
Another shared attribute between Vardy and Lucas might be their mentality. Last season, Leicester showed the psychological side of the game can be just as important as its technical counterpart. Speaking to Sky Sports about Leicester’s extraordinary character, Wenger said:
There is a theory that says to go to the absolute utmost of your talent you need to suffer in life. When you look at the Leicester team, not one career of all these players was obvious, like starting on the red carpet at 18 years of age in the Champions League.Many of the players have been rejected before...it is an interesting case. N'Golo Kante, nobody wanted him in France for a while. That is a good explanation for his character.These players had a dream that was not easy to obtain, but when they are in a position to reach it, they are ready for the fight.
Like Vardy, Lucas has clawed his way up to the top of the game. There is, of course, one major difference between the two players: Vardy found his home at Leicester and was content to remain there, but Lucas had the ambition to test himself with one of Europe’s giants.
In a press conference to explain his departure to the Deportivo fans, the forward said of his move to Arsenal: "It's very exciting. To play with the best, to compete with the best. ... It makes me very happy. It's a challenge, and if someone had told me at ten years old when I was playing in the streets of La Coruna, I would have thrown them off a bridge, I'd have said 'you're crazy’."
The fact Lucas has the courage to accept this latest challenge is hugely encouraging. It sounds as if he’s determined to seize this opportunity.
MIGUEL RIOPA/Getty Images
The Spaniard joins the Gunners aged 27, and it’s worth remembering that Ian Wright was that age when he moved to Highbury. Within a few years, he had become the club's all-time leading goalscorer. Key to that success was the hunger he brought with him. It’s ludicrous to expect the Spaniard to match those achievements, but equally, it’d be wrong to write him off because he’s a late developer.
While many Arsenal stars are away competing for their country, Lucas is in north London acclimatising to life with his new club. Despite having this period to bed in,
there is no guarantee he’ll start the next Premier League game against Southampton. No matter—he likely wouldn't allow such a relatively minor setback to derail him. The forward has already overcome far greater obstacles to reach this point.
The story of his career is one of a dramatic fightback from obscurity to stardom. Disregard him at your peril; Lucas has a remarkable habit of proving people wrong. It would be no great surprise if Arsenal’s unheralded summer signing went on to become their best. As Wenger might put it, he is "ready for the fight."
