Former Arsenal forward spends €500k in order to return to hometown club

Football is full of cynicism and frustrating invasions from the real world, but there is still room for the fairytale too. For Deportivo La Coruna and Lucas Perez, it has become a reality.

The 34-year-old former Arsenal striker left A Coruna in Galicia for Madrid in order to pursue his career, returning in 2014 to play for Depor in La Liga. Although he sealed a €20m move to Arsenal in 2017, he would play three of the four seasons until 2018 at Deportivo.

After passing through West Ham, Alaves and Elche, Perez most recently found himself at Cadiz. Still contributing goals in La Liga, he found himself desperate to return home while he can still be a key asset.

Bearing in mind Deportivo have been languishing in Spain’s third tier for several seasons now, this was not the easiest feat. They would have to come up with €1m in order to make him theirs.

Obviously a jump in quality and one desired strongly at Riazor, Depor were still struggling to afford the fee. This January Perez decided to take matters into his own hands, paying a reported €493k from his own pocket in order to make the move happen.

Few players can claim to have made such large sacrifices as Perez has in order to make his dream come true. He will now be doing everything he can to return Deportivo to the Segunda, and perhaps even the Primera.

Tags Arsenal Cadiz Deportivo La Coruna Lucas Perez
La Liga - Club News