Is Ayoze Pérez unfairly scapegoated by Leicester City fans?
By Nathan Wong
It’s safe to say that Ayoze Pérez hasn’t endured the best season for Leicester City in more ways than one. Some Leicester City fans may say that’s putting it lightly, judging at the amount of flak he has received on Twitter. Yet, does Ayoze Pérez deserve the wrath of the Leicester fanbase, or is he being scapegoated?
How has he performed on the pitch?
In 2019/20, Pérez wasn’t awful with 8 goals and 4 assists in 2020 minutes. Considering he was played in an unfamiliar RW position most of the time, this is a decent although unspectacular return. At times, we saw flashes of a quality player, with a standout display in the infamous victory against Southampton.
This season, things haven’t been nearly as rosy, and there is no defending Pérez’s extremely poor output. For someone who cost £30 million, he’s only scored 2 times (with a sole assist) in 25 appearances. When looking at the quality of chances he has received, Ayoze would be expected to score 4 goals, showing a worrying underperformance.
When Pérez has been played in his favoured ’10’ position, he has been reasonably effective, scoring a 7.27 average rating on Whoscored. The issue is that he doesn’t get to play here a lot due to the prowess of James Maddison. To his credit, Pérez possesses excellent feet, and an ability to get out of tight spaces, which is sometimes overlooked. Furthermore, ‘Ayo’ always brings hard work, which is always appreciated. For example, his efforts helped bring about that Youri Tielemans howitzer through the closing down of Reece James.