There’s always some kind of reaction when a star player leaves a club. Anger, with the player or selling club, is often the way, as is an attempt to brush off the impact it may have, but the local La Coruna media sound genuinely upset on Friday.
Lucas Perez is from La Coruna, but has only played for the club since 2014. Having moved from Rayo Vallecano for a couple of years in Ukrainian football, Perez then moved to Greece with PAOK.
In 2014, Deportivo La Coruna signed the local boy on loan, turning it into a permanent deal, and the player was hugely grateful.
La Voz de Galicia on Friday republish an interview from ahead of the transfer window, with Perez’s words very relevant right now.
“Football is a business, not only me, also Depor, the club… If they have to sell to keep growing, so I’ll go. We all know the economic problems at Deportivo. If someone pays the clause, the debt is reduced, and they can improve the contract of some players who want to stay longer and they can bring top players to raise the level of the squad.”
Arsenal are paying the €20m clause amount, but they’re not activating the clause. Perez’s agent made it clear previously that the player didn’t want to force the move by depositing a clause.
In May, Perez’s agent Rodrigo Fernandez gave an interview to La Voz de Galicia to talk about the 27-year-old’s situation.
When asked about club’s interested in a transfer, Fernandez said: “Leicester from the Premier League, Napoli from Calcio and Atletico Madrid from La Liga have directly addressed us to see the possibility of signing Lucas. To all of them we told them that we will never activate the release clause, they must negotiate with Deportivo.”
And that’s what has happened with Arsenal. Maybe one day Perez can return to Deportivo and extend his short, but clearly important, time playing for the club.
