Lucas Perez has told Arsenal that he wants to leave after feeling ‘cheated’ over club’s decision to pass over the No 9 shirt to record signing Alexandre Lacazette.
Since his £17 million transfer from Deportivo La Coruna 12 months ago, the Spanish striker has grown increasingly frustrated over lack of first team opportunities.
Perez was handed just two Premier League starts by Gunners boss Arsene Wenger last season and the 28-year-old has now revealed that he is keen to return to his homeland this summer.
According to La Voz de Galicia, Perez told Arsenal’s transfer negotiator Dick Law: “I want to leave, to play and be happy.
“Last year I barely had any opportunities and when I had them I took advantage of them. And this season is clearly going to be more of the same.
“I want to fight to go to the national team. I want to play football, but for that I have to leave. And I think that the best place for me is at home, with Depor.”
The Spaniard is further expected to fell down in the pecking order following the arrival of Alexandre Lacazette, who was offered Perez’s No 9 shirt by the Gunners. Perez claims the ‘ugly gesture’ is the final straw in his disastrous spell at the Emirates and that he wants to leave the club this summer to secure a spot in Spain’s squad for the 2018 World Cup.
“They [Arsenal] are not behaving well with me. The thing of taking the shirt number without telling me to give it to a companion, it seems to me the last straw,” Perez reportedly told Law.
“I cannot continue this way. I have given everything, but that has not been reciprocated, so I can’t stand it any longer. I feel cheated. In February I was not allowed to leave for China with the promise that I would play more and after that I had even fewer opportunities.
“To play the World Cup. A dream. But for that I have to play and I have to be happy. That’s why I want to go back to Coruna.”
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