Ayoze Pérez says he agreed to join Leicester City after failing to secure a move back to Spain.
The current Villarreal player has been speaking to La Otra Grada de Feeberse to discuss his time in the UK and other topics.
This is when he explains how his transfer to Leicester City materialised and El Desmarque have relayed his comments.
The Foxes signed the 32-year-old from Newcastle United in July 2019 after activating his release clause.
Earlier today, we covered the Spaniard explaining his initial plan was to leave the Tyneside club and return home. Valencia had shown interest at that time but weren’t able to go ahead due to financial and sporting conditions.
The forward has admitted his wish was to sign for Los Ches, who were waiting to offload Rodrigo Moreno before making advances. The latter wasn’t transferred and Valencia did not trigger his buy-out clause.
This allowed Leicester City to swoop in to acquire the attacker’s signature from Newcastle United. Pérez indicates he accepted a move to the King Power Stadium as there weren’t many options left.
“I was gutted. Then, circumstances arose where I had almost no choice. It was time for a change, psychologically above all, and the move to Leicester happened. The Valencia deal took a backseat,” he said.
“I spoke with my agent and told him, ‘Nobody guarantees us anything.’ And the Rodrigo deal didn’t go through; it worked out well.”
Pérez managed 15 goals and 12 assists from 114 matches for Leicester City. He left them as a free agent at the end of the 2022/23 season.
He won the FA Cup with Leicester City, the only major club trophy of his career, so perhaps he can look back on it all rather more fondly than he suggests.
