Ayoze Perez now says he was 'gutted' when Newcastle United sold him to Leicester City
Spanish forward Ayoze Perez proved to be a huge bargain for Newcastle United, arriving at St James' Park for £1.5 million and going on to score 48 goals in 195 appearances.
It was a slow start for the young Spaniard who joined from Tenerife, and while he never really nailed down a place in the starting XI, he would often pop up off the bench to score crucial goals.
In his last season for the club, he got the most first-team opportunities, and he took them well, finishing the season with 13 goals in all competitions.
However, a £30 million release clause in his contract meant that he was in danger of an exit that summer, which ultimately happened when Leicester City activated the clause and took him off our hands.
Ayoze Perez was 'gutted' when he left Newcastle United
However, Perez has now revealed in an interview on La Otra Grada de Feeberse (via Sport Witness) that he was gutted when he left Newcastle. Not because he didn't want to go, but because he wanted to return to Spain.
“Actually, no, in England they don’t usually include release clauses. I had one for 30m. So, of course, for a Spanish club to pay that much for a player wasn’t so easy.
“I wanted to return to Spain. Valencia was waiting at that time to sell Rodrigo Moreno, who performed very well. That conversation took place shortly after the end of the league season; of course, the entire transfer window was still open.”
“Leicester also wanted me, and what I wanted was Valencia, but of course, nobody could guarantee they were going to sell Rodrigo; in fact, they didn’t.
“I was gutted. The Valencia deal took a backseat. I spoke with my agent and told him, ‘Nobody guarantees us anything.’ And the Rodrigo deal didn’t go through; it worked out well.”
Newcastle can feel that they did well out of the Ayoze Perez deal
As Perez said, it worked out well for him at Leicester, and he was able to add an FA Cup and a Community Shield winner's medal to his trophy cabinet.
Now 32, Perez is playing for Villarreal and has one goal and two assists from 10 appearances this season.
Newcastle did well out of that deal all in all. We got a useful player and made almost £29 million profit on him, so we can't complain too much.
