Wenger also touched on the future of Joel Campbell who this week completed a loan move to Sporting Lisbon; his fifth temporary move in five years as a Gunner.
Advertisement
Perez is set to become an Arsenal player before the summer transfer window closes, with a £17.1m fee having reportedly been agreed between the Premier League club and Deportivo La Coruna.
But boss Arsene Wenger has had a change of heart with time running out to strengthen his squad ahead of Wednesday’s transfer deadline.
Did Wenger just admit that he made a pig’s ear of the transfer window? “I’m 99 per cent confident”.
According to reports in both The Independent and The Mirror, Wenger turned down the chance to sign the Spanish striker less than a month ago because they didn’t think he was good enough. “I expect the next three days to be very, very busy, so be on alert!”
Wenger says he was anticipating an “easier” transfer market than ever this summer but admits he had to reassess his targets after missing out on his priorities earlier in the window. And that everybody sat on his pounds until now.
Lucas scored 17 goals and provided eight assists as Deportivo finished 15th in LaLiga last season.
Wenger had come in for plenty of criticism for failing to add to his ranks, although he had already signed midfielder Granit Xhaka from Borussia Monchengladbach for around £35million.
Wenger’s situation was worsened as the Gunners lost their opening Premier League game 3-4 at home to Liverpool, before drawing 0-0 at Leicester City last weekend.
“I believe (Campbell) is a bit the victim of the size of the squad”.
It seems beyond doubt that he and Mustafi will complete moves to Arsenal in the coming days after Wenger insisted he is “99% confident” that deals will be struck.
“Last night it was told to me that it was pretty much a done deal that Arsenal were going to beat Everton [to Perez]”. “He is now at an age as well where he needs to play more regularly”, he said.
Advertisement
“I rate him (Deeney) he has technical quality and is a fighter, to find these two together is hard”. But we know they will all splash out now. “But let’s see if we can finish the job first”, the French coach said of the Deportivo forward.
