Ayoze Perez admits Leicester struggles hard to take, with lack of game taking its toll

Ayoze Perez has admitted that he hasn’t found this season “easy at all” for Leicester due to his struggles for consistent game time.

Perez has been in and around the Leicester first team since joining from Newcastle in 2019 for a reported fee of around £30million. During his time at the club, he has scored 14 goals and set up an additional 11 for the Foxes.

The Spaniard has, however, had much less game time than in previous years but due to no fault of his own.

He has seemingly fallen out of favour with Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers, who now seems to prefer both Harvey Barnes and Ademola Lookman over the 28-year-old.

The forward has only had 11 starts this season despite appearing 25 times. In the 2020/21 season, he racked up 21 starts.

The 28-year-old spoke after Leicester‘s 4-1 win over Southampton on Sunday – during which he scored two goals – on how has found this season.

“It hasn’t been a great season for myself, not easy at all, but it’s a great feeling for some game time and to be able to score two goals,” Perez said to Leicester’s official club website.

“Obviously I’m happy to be able to be in a position to do that.

“We were trying to manage the game the last couple of minutes, keeping the ball so they could not attack but we found the spaces and we got up there and we have a great link between Ricky [Ricardo Pereira] and myself. It was a great goal.”

Perez came off the bench in the 63rd minute and showed his class by scoring two late goals to secure the Foxes an eighth-placed finish in the Premier League.

Ayoze Perez on Leicester’s season as a whole

Leicester have narrowly missed out on European football as they finished outside the top seven in the Premier League. The club fell short by just four points as West Ham United took seventh with 56 points.

The Foxes have qualified for the Europa League in the last two campaigns but will now only have the Premier League and domestic cups to focus on.

Perez has spoken on Leicester’s season and how he has the desire for the club to finish higher next season.

He added: “It’s a very good win to finish the season. We wanted to finish as strong as possible to get eighth place, so it’s a great result against a tough opposition. We can start again next season and hopefully we can improve a little bit next season and finish higher.”

Leicester boss, Rodgers, has also had his say on what lies ahead for the Foxes next campaign.

“The last couple of years have been great for Leicester. The assessment of us is that we’re a team up there challenging for Champions League qualification and for trophies, which is brilliant,” he said via The Northern Echo.

“But the reality, if you look at the depth of our squad against Chelsea’s, is that they’ve got levels and we’re nowhere near that level.

“It doesn’t stop us competing but it is very tough. We’ll have extra coaching time, hopefully we can get in some players who can help us improve and develop again.

“I’ve always said that one game a week is a holiday: but let’s make it a good holiday and we can be up there again.”

This showcases that in the 2022/23 season, Rodgers’ team plan to be a force to be reckoned with, challenging for trophies along the way.