Remember Lucas Perez, West Ham United fans?
If the answer is ‘no’, then that is more than understandable.
While the likes of Gianluca Scamacca and Sebastien Haller struggled to live up to expectations and considerable price-tags at West Ham United, at least they featured regularly enough in the claret and blue shirt to leave some sort of an impression.
Mustering a grand total of four Premier League starts during his own spell at the London Stadium, Lucas Perez joined in a £4 million deal from Arsenal in search of more consistent game time.
Ironically, he actually played fewer games in a West Ham shirt – 19 – than he did in the red and white of Arsenal.
One accusation which could not be levelled at the Deportivo La Coruna legend during his less-than memorable stint in English football, however, was a lack of potency. Whenever he did get a chance, Lucas Perez often took it. Across 15 starts for Arsenal and West Ham, he scored 13 goals.
And when PSV Eindhoven made the surprise decision to bring a now-36-year-old Perez to the Netherlands during the 2024 January transfer window, the Dutch giants may have done so with those numbers in mind.
Illness ruins former West Ham United striker Lucas Perez’s PSV stint
Lucas Perez was never going to be a fixture in Peter Bosz’s XI.
Not with the evergreen Luuk de Jong already keeping Ricardo Pepi – West Ham made a £20 million bid for the American in the winter – on the sidelines.
But while attempting to hone in on then-runaway leaders Ajax, PSV obviously felt Lucas Perez could work wonders as an experienced back-up. One to be rolled out when his team were in desperate need of a goal.
Given that he has a track record of making the most of relatively meagre minutes on the pitch – say what you want about those Arsenal and West Ham spells, Lucas Perez’s goals-per-minutes ratio is undoubtedly impressive – there was certainly some logic behind PSV’s decision.
Unfortunately for Lucas Perez – while PSV would eventually overhaul Ajax and snatch the title on a dramatic final day – a bout of illness restricted him to only 16 minutes of Eredivisie football.
What could have been a glorious bookend to his long and varied career instead grinding to a frustrating halt, even if he can technically say he was part of a major trophy win for the first time since Arsenal destroyed Tim Sherwood’s Aston Villa in the FA Cup final eight years ago.
Ex-Arsenal forward ‘very happy to be back’ after PSV release
Lucas Perez was rendered unavailable from February onwards after contracting tuberculosis. He was even forced to undergo four weeks of quarantine.
And, while PSV have now confirmed via their official website that his recovery is heading in the right direction, Perez returns to Spain upon the expiry of his contract hoping to make up for lost time.
With his 37th birthday only a few months away, the one-time Rayo Vallecano, PAOK and Dynamo Kyiv striker really could have done without a lengthy absence ruining what feels likely to be his last-ever involvement at a high-profile club in a top-flight competition.
“I am healthy again,” Perez says, determined to focus on the positives as he puts that illness behind him. “[I am] working very hard to be fully fit next season and am very happy to be back.”
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