Lucas Perez Martinez a Viable Striking Alternative to Jamie Vardy for Arsenal

Arsenal may have finally found themselves a striker. After a summer of fruitless searching, of dead ends and rejection, the path to a new forward appears to be opening up. Arsene Wenger seems to have identified Deportivo La Coruna’s Lucas Perez Martinez as the man to strengthen his front line. 

It’s a surprising move, largely because the player appeared to be on the verge of a move to Everton. However, Arsenal have jumped ahead of the Toffees right at the last minute.

Matt Law of the Telegraph reported:

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Arsenal have hijacked Everton’s move to sign Deportivo La Coruna striker Lucas Perez Martinez after Gunners officials travelled to Spain to complete a deal.

Everton had agreed a £17 million fee and personal terms with the man commonly known as Lucas, but Arsenal came in at the last minute to steal the 27-year-old away.

Arsenal were on Thursday completing the formalities of the transfer in Spain with no hitches expected.

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According to Law, Lucas had been identified as a potential Everton signing by their new director of football Steve Walsh. Walsh rose to prominence with his outstanding work with Leicester City over the last few seasons. If Lucas can prove to be half as effective as Riyad Mahrez or N’Golo Kante in the Premier League, Arsenal will be landing a bargain. 

The decision to move for Lucas comes after a 0-0 draw against Walsh’s old club, Leicester. It’s a familiar pattern: Back in 2014, it was a blunt attacking performance at the King Power Stadium that prompted the Gunners to sign Danny Welbeck. Two years on, their inability to break down the Foxes appears to have forced Wenger to consider dipping into the market again. 

Prior to the Leicester game, Wenger had been bullish about his attacking options. In his pre-match press conference, he seemed to dismiss the need for a new striker:

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I believe a club like ours is focused on giving chances to the players we develop in our own club.

We have a few strikers who have a chance, if we find the right players we buy.

It is not that easy – look at a club like Real Madrid, who have they bought? Up front, it is very difficult. 

[We have] Theo as well, it is an important season for Theo, because last year he had a difficult period. 

He can play as a striker and his numbers are excellent when he plays up front, we have Giroud, Sanchez, Walcott, Akpom and (Yaya) Sanogo who is still here but is injured at the moment – the players we buy have to be better. 

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Wenger has now found someone he is willing to spend on. Although his name had not been mentioned in association with Arsenal until the last couple of days, perhaps we ought to have seen this coming. After all, Lucas’ ascendance last season was not entirely dissimilar to that of another Gunners transfer target: Jamie Vardy. 

Arsenal triggered Vardy’s release clause earlier this summer, but the England international chose to remain with Leicester. Lucas shares several of Vardy’s qualities—he’s a plausible alternative to the former Fleetwood Town man.  

Manuel Queimadelos Alonso/Getty Images

Unlike Vardy, he is left-footed. His potential arrival makes more sense of the decision to allow Joel Campbell to leave on loan. Like Campbell, Lucas is a left-sided striker who is also capable of operating on the flank. Bringing him in without sanctioning a departure would have created too much congestion in the squad—especially once Welbeck returns to fitness around Christmas. 

However, he does have some of Vardy’s electric pace. Lucas is at his best when running in behind the opposition defence. That makes him an effective alternative to Olivier Giroud. Last season, Arsenal were often at their best when playing with a quick striker who could dart into the channels. That’s Lucas’ natural game. 

He also has a similar age profile. There was some consternation when Wenger bid for Vardy earlier this summer, given that he’s already 29. Lucas is not much younger—he will be 28 next month. It seems Arsenal are actively looking for a player to add some seniority and experience to the likes of Chuba Akpom and Yaya Sanogo. 

Like Vardy, Lucas has been a late developer. He's had a journeyman career, encompassing spells in Greece and the Ukraine. He returned to the club he supported as a child, Deportivo, in the summer of 2014, but it was only last season that he began to catch fire.

Lucas enjoyed an outstanding first half of the 2015/16 campaign. Like Vardy, he embarked on a record-breaking goalscoring run. He equalled Bebeto’s feat of scoring in seven consecutive Deportivo games, prompting his coach Victor to say, per the Guardian's Sid Lowe: 

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We have spent a long time now reading and listening to people praising him and I would like to join them because it is not just goals, it is that he gives us a spectacular [amount of] work. He is hammering on the door of the national team. He is "completisimo" [the most complete] and we’re delighted to be able to enjoy him.

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Sadly for Deportivo, it does not look as if they’ll be able to enjoy him for much longer.

Perhaps Arsenal were attracted by Lucas’ statistics. Back in 2014, the club purchased data company StatDNA, and analytics play an increasingly important part in their scouting process.

They can’t fail to have been impressed by Lucas’ numbers. For starters, he scored 17 league goals last year—one more than Olivier Giroud managed in an Arsenal shirt. 

BIEL ALINO/Getty Images

101 Great Goals used Squawka’s stat engine to carry out a comparison between Lucas, Giroud and Atletico Madrid’s Antoine Griezmann.

Lucas topped the charts on assists, chances created, key passes, pass completion and shooting accuracy. Given the kind of money being talked about for a player of Griezmann’s calibre, those are mightily impressive figures.

The challenge now for Lucas is to prove he’s more than just a one-season wonder. Unlike Vardy, he’s already off the mark in 2016/17, tucking away a late penalty to help Deportivo beat Eibar in their opening game.

That may have been his final noteworthy contribution in a Depor shirt. Although he has been named in the squad to face Real Betis on Friday, it’s telling there are 20 names rather than the customary 18 on the squad sheet. If Arsenal’s interest accelerates over the course of the day, he is expected to be withdrawn to avoid the risk of injury.

Lucas may not have been Arsenal’s first-choice forward, but the stats suggest he is a viable alternative to Jamie Vardy. Crucially, he also has the courage and the desire to test himself at a big club like Arsenal.

This hometown boy is gambling that he has what it takes to succeed at the Emirates Stadium. Wenger will desperately hope he can continue to exceed expectations.

James McNicholas is Bleacher Report's lead Arsenal correspondent and will be following the club from a London base throughout 2016/17. Follow him on Twitter here.