Arsenal striker wants to leave the club after ‘ugly gesture’

Joe Williams

Lucas Perez has his heart set on leaving Arsenal this summer after being left unhappy with the way the club has treated him, according to reports.

Perez only made two starts in the Premier League last season after joining from Deportivo La Coruna for £17million last summer

Spanish website La Voz de Galicia report that he told Arsenal’s transfer negotiator Dick Law that he wanted to leave the Emirates Stadium.

“I want to leave, to play and be happy,” Perez told Law, according to La Voz de Galicia.

“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 Gunners handed over his No 9 shirt to new signing Alexandre Lacazette and the newspaper claims that Perez saw that as an “ugly gesture” from the club.

“They [Arsenal] are not behaving well with me,” Perez reportedly told Law. “The thing of taking the shirt number without telling me to give it to a companion, it seems to me the last straw.

“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.

“But the shirt number is an ugly gesture. On the trip, Lacazette asked the boss and he accepted. Afterwards, he told me. Last year he [Wenger] told me that he understood that I was upset. I think this season things will get worse, so help me out.

“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.”