Perez hoping to join long list of Arsenal greats

Arsenal’s new recruit Lucas Perez admits it was the lure of linking up with the Gunners’ Spanish contingent that convinced him to leave hometown club Deportivo La Coruña.

The 27-year-old’s signature was clinched by Arsene Wenger on Friday after a summer of speculation, for a reported fee of just over £17million.

Perez was just 15 when the 2004 ‘Invincibles’ put Arsenal well and truly on the radar across Europe, and the striker still respects a host of Gunners players past and present.

But despite the pedigree of the club, he concedes leaving La Coruña was a tough step to make, having scored 18 goals in 37 appearances for them last term.

“It’s a challenge, and if someone had told me at ten years old when I was playing in the streets of La Coruña, I would have thrown them off a bridge,” he said. “But it’s very exciting. To play with the best, to compete with the best.

“Well, obviously everyone knows about Arsenal’s legendary players, such as Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp. I really admired Jose Antonio Reyes too, who’s a fellow Spaniard.

“There’s Robert Pires, Patrick Vieira too… that was a wonderful time for Arsenal and everyone knows all those players.

“People know all about them in Spain and that history of having legends at the club is part of the reason Arsenal are so popular.

“Hector Bellerin said hello and so did Santi Cazorla when I arrived at the club – they were both here at the training ground.

“I’ve seen them play and things but I don’t know them personally because I only started playing in La Liga two years ago, by which time they’d certainly come here, so I never got the chance to meet them in person.”