Arsenal transfer news: Who is Lucas Perez, the Deportivo La Coruna striker the Gunners are trying to sign?

a closer look at the 27-year-old Spanish striker

Lucas Perez is believed to be close to joining Arsenal (Getty)

Arsenal are being heavily linked with a move for striker Lucas Perez after reports in Spain suggested a deal had been reached with Deportivo La Coruna, with Arsene Wenger pressing on with his transfer plans after a slow summer.

The 27-year-old is regarded as a late bloomer in terms of making his name in European football, meaning that a lot of fans in England are unaware of the forward that could become Arsenal’s fourth signing of the summer.

So who is Lucas Perez?

For starters, he goes by the name of Lucas, and is a 27-year-ol d striker who has a rather unusual background that has taken him to Ukraine and Greece among his travels. After beginning his youth career with Alaves, Lucas failed to gain a professional contract, and it was a similar scenario at both Montaneros and Odenes before he finally got his breakthrough with Atletico Madrid’s ‘C’ Team in 2007.

Lucas went on to play for Atletico’s third team for two years, before fellow La Liga side Rayo Vallecano came calling in the form of their ‘B’ Team/ He spent another two years in the echelons of reserve football before finally moving up to the Vallecano senior side in 2010 at the age if 22, but was limited to just seven league appearances throughout the 2010/11 season and decided to leave at the end of the season.

Interestingly, despite his young age, Lucas elected to leave Spain and venture to Ukraine where he joined FC Karpaty Lviv for a two-season spell that brought 51 league appearances and 14 goals, although an unproductive loan spell with Dynamo Kiev saw him fail to make a single appearance.

To keep trend with his interesting destinations, Pucas left Ukraine in 2013 to venture to Greece, where he would sign for PAOK and achieve his only honour of note in helping the side to reach the Greek Football Cup final, though they were beaten by Panathinaikos. Still, he ended the season with his goal tally in double figures along with 15 assists, enough to catch the eye back home.

He would return to Spain for the start of the 2014/15 season with Deportivo, though a knee injury sustained on his La Liga debut meant that he would remain out of action until the start of 2015. However during his time there he began to show glimpes of his quality, and he crucially scored in the season-ending 2-2 draw against Barcelona to keep Deportivo in the top tier of Spanish football.

He completed a permanent move to Deportivo that summer, and last season went on to enjoy his best year to date in scoring 19 goals in all competitions.

Where will he play?

Lucas has regularly cropped up on the left side of an attacking trio during his career, although he is capable of playing as a lone striker. However, with Olivier Giroud an established targetman in the Premier League and Danny Welbeck to return from injury, Arsenal fans can expect to see Lucas out wide more often than not.

Yet with Alexis Sanchez already at the club, Wenger is unlikely to be bringing in a regular first-team player. Instead, Lucas is likely to provide back-up for Giroud and Sanchez, but he does offer a more direct approach than Theo Walcott does, enabling the England international to focus on his role on the right side of the forward line.