Ayoze Pérez was at Newcastle United and Leicester City during his nine-year spell in the UK.
The Spaniard first arrived in England when Newcastle United signed him from CD Tenerife in June 2014.
Newcastle United sold him to Leicester City in July 2019. The Foxes released him at the end of the 2022/23 season, after letting him spend the last six months of on loan at Real Betis.
Pérez then joined Real Betis on a permanent deal in 2023 and moved to Villarreal a year later. He’s been the latest guest on La Otra Grada de Feeberse and El Desmarque have relayed his comments.
The 32-year-old revealed he wanted to leave Newcastle United and return to Spain in 2019. Valencia showed interest and were waiting to offload Rodrigo Moreno to make advances.
Pérez says he had a release clause in his contract at Newcastle United of thirty million. He didn’t specify whether that was €30m or £30m. Either way, Valencia refused to activate it, and this blocked his move to Mestalla.
“Actually, no, in England they don’t usually include release clauses. I had one for 30m. So, of course, for a Spanish club to pay that much for a player wasn’t so easy,” he said.
“I wanted to return to Spain. Valencia was waiting at that time to sell Rodrigo Moreno, who performed very well. That conversation took place shortly after the end of the league season; of course, the entire transfer window was still open.”
Rodrigo didn’t leave the Mestalla in 2019 and therefore Pérez couldn’t secure a move to Valencia. He had to settle for Leicester City, a club he wasn’t initially keen on joining.
“Leicester also wanted me, and what I wanted was Valencia, but of course, nobody could guarantee they were going to sell Rodrigo; in fact, they didn’t,” Pérez explained.
“I was gutted. The Valencia deal took a backseat. I spoke with my agent and told him, ‘Nobody guarantees us anything.’ And the Rodrigo deal didn’t go through; it worked out well.”
