Former Arsenal, PSV Eindhoven and Deportivo la Coruna striker Lucas Perez has no problem admitting that his brief spell down in the Premier League with West Ham United did not really go to plan.
OK, yes, he did technically make twice the number of top-flight starts in a West Ham United shirt than when down the road at Arsenal.
Four with the former, compared to a mere two with the latter.
But after rejecting La Liga trio Real Sociedad, Sevilla and Real Betis in favour of another stab at English football, this was not the sort of role Lucas Perez envisaged when Manuel Pellegrini delivered his pitch.
To think, Barcelona were interested too during Perez’s ill-fated spell on UK soil. The Blaugrana targeting a man who plundered 17 La Liga goals for his beloved Deportivo la Coruna, earning a big-money switch to Arsenal in the aftermath of their failed pursuit of Jamie Vardy.
Given the chance, Perez may have made a much greater impression on the Premier League. Across all competitions, during spells at Arsenal and West Ham, he did find the net 13 times in just 15 starts after all.
Yet, opportunities to really nail down a spot in the first XI were few and far between, particularly given that Marko Arnautovic and Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez both sat ahead of Lucas Perez in Pellegrini’s pecking order.
Lucas Perez celebrates during West Ham United v Leicester City - Premier League
Photo by Sebastian Frej/MB Media/Getty Images
Lucas Perez explains why he rejected Sevilla and Real Betis for West Ham United
Casting his mind back to that 2018/19 campaign, Lucas Perez chooses to remember West Ham as a ‘a great club with some very good players’, not to mention for their cavernous, 62,000 capacity London Stadium.
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But he also accepts that, very much third-choice, his time at West Ham was hardly much of an upgrade on that equally forgettable stint in Arsenal red.
“Pellegrini was there, I remember,” Perez recalls. “I had options. I had options to go come to Spain, with Real Sociedad. I also had offers from Sevilla and Real Betis but, well, I wanted to give myself a chance in England to see how I would do.
“Pellegrini called me. He was really keen.
“After that, he ended up only playing with Arnautovic up front and Chicharito and I coming off the bench. Or, sometimes Chicharito playing with Arnautovic.
“And that was my time at West Ham.”
Lucas Perez and Marko Arnautovic want new clubs after PSV and Inter Milan spells
Sometimes, certain footballers are just made for certain competitions. Lucas Perez immediately hit double figures upon his La Liga return with Deportivo Alaves after leaving the Hammers for a fee in the region of £2 million.
During 202 appearances in Spain’s top flight, Lucas Perez scored or assisted no fewer than 87 goals. That is a goal or an assist every 2.3 games. An impressive return indeed, given that the one-time Atletico Madrid youngster and ex-Barcelona target would never turn out for one of the division’s big boys.
A now-36-year-old Lucas Perez won the Eredivisie title with PSV Eindhoven last season. Albeit, his influence was rendered pretty minimal due to illness.
While it would be unfair perhaps to label him a ‘flop’ in line with some of West Ham’s more infamous misfires, Lucas Perez is still one of many talented centre-forwards who will look back on their time in claret and blue with a pang of regret.
Marko Arnautovic, the man who kept Perez off Pellegrini’s team sheet, is very much an anomaly then in a decade of ill-fitting number nines.
Arnautovic is set to leave Inter Milan this summer. And, with a World Cup itch to scratch, Arnautovic has been linked with clubs in Saudi Arabia as he looks to keep his 36-year-old limbs fresh.