3 – Top Player, Average Company
When it comes to the background of Perez, we begin to understand that a move to Arsenal really is the big break he deserves.
Perez is better known as simply “Lucas” and that’s what his shirt will read at the Gunners, and having grown up in the town of A Coruna it was a dream to play for Deportivo.
However, to get there the striker had to jump through many hoops which started off by playing in some of Spain’s lower leagues before getting noticed by Atletico Madrid.
He went on to play for their C team, before a switch to Rayo Vallecano’s reserves gave him a chance to push on and establish himself as an up and coming frontman.
As Rayo picked up promotion to La Liga, Lucas was sent off to pick up more experience and that’s where he found himself playing in Ukraine at Karpaty Lviv and Dynamo Kiev.
Another move to PAOK soon picked up interest from Deportivo, who picked him up on loan and after impressing went on to sign him permanently.
In the space of a year Lucas has managed to establish himself as a regular, picking up over 3000 minutes inside 36 league games for the club he grew up watching.
His 17 goals helped Deportivo to a lowly 15th placed finish and with very little promise of that season target changing, Lucas began to weigh up his options.
A move to the Premier League was high on his agenda and when Everton came sniffing around Deportivo knew they were powerless to letting their top goalscorer leave.
Despite signing for the Spanish club just over a year ago, Perez will now join the Gunners who were able to complete the deal quickly due to his €20million release clause.
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