Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has insisted that he would like to keep Lucas Perez at the Emirates next season despite his limited playing time over the course of the campaign.
The Spaniard joined the FA Cup finalists from Deportivo La Coruna last summer after the north London giants triggered the £17.3m on his existing contract.
Perez has since been largely confined to a substitutes’ role with Wenger in favour of the likes of Alexis Sanchez, Olivier Giroud and Danny Welbeck for the centre-forward role.
Speaking ahead of the Southampton game, Wenger revealed his desire to prolong Perez’s stay despite the attacker’s frustration at the lack of first-team football.
“If I’m the manager, I would love to keep him,” he is quoted as saying on Sky Sports. “We have to sit down together and see if he has a reasonable chance to play next season or not.”
Perez has missed the last few league games with a thigh problem, but he is deemed fit enough to feature against Southampton, the club against whom he made his Gunners debut back in September.
With Arsenal flying high from their 2-0 win over Manchester United, Wenger is unlikely to make any unnecessary changes, and this could see Perez occupy his regular position on the bench.
The former Depor man has scored just a single goal for the Gunners in his 11 league outings this season. He has, however, made his mark in the Cup and European competitions after having notched six goals and five assists in 10 appearances.
Perez, who earns around £70,000-a-week, is said to have the ambition of representing La Roja at the World Cup finals next year, and for this, he may have to pursue a fresh challenge elsewhere with a host of La Liga clubs in contention for his services.
