Ayoze Perez is a player that continues to divide Leicester City fans, with 2020/2021 hardly a vintage year for the Spaniard, we ask should he be in or out?
Ayoze Perez, Leicester City statistics
Appearances total: – 36/ Premier League –25 / FA Cup – 6 / Europa League – 4 / EFL Cup – 1
Goals total: – 3
Moment to savour: – A starting spot and a key player in the historic FA cup win
Moment to forget: – Being dropped following a COVID-19 breach
As Ayoze Perez assesses his second season as a Leicester player he will likely have mixed feelings. Lifting the FA cup was a triumphant moment in his career and one he played a key role in by intercepting the ball that led to the winning goal. But this season represented a significant drop in minutes from last season to this. In his first season, he amassed 2,520 minutes as he was used in a variety of roles.
In 2020/2021 that dropped down massively to only 1,883. This was a huge downturn when you consider he was one of the few players that went the whole season without an injury in a season beset with them. The main problem for this is pretty simple, position!
When starting the season he was asked to undertake the right-wing role. This is a role that he undertakes enthusiastically with no shortage of energy or work rate. But he struggles to get down the line with any outstanding pace and his final ball is nothing to really write home about, with a tendency to play inside. Playing him here tends to be a decision based on how well Perez keeps the defensive shape off the ball.
When adopting the Second-striker or attacking-midfield role and playing in more central areas, Perez tends to have slightly more joy and is able to use his skill and creativity. Both of these areas heralded his only Premier League goals of the season bizarrely against Sheffield United each time.
Incidentally, The Blades are the only Premier League team he has scored against since late January 2020 with last season being his worst goalscoring return since 2013 when he was back in Spain. This is starting to be a major problem for a player who cost £30 million and was brought in to add creativity to the attack.
It’s hard to know whether Perez has been given enough patience with his chances on the pitch, on only six occasions was he afforded a full 90 minutes. He also seems to be the first one hooked whenever substitutes are being made with an over-reliance on the diminishing returns of Jamie Vardy. But after being one of the players that breached COVID protocols to have a house party he should thank his lucky stars that he somehow managed to work his way back into the favour of manager Brendan Rodgers.
This was what led to the former Newcastle United man playing a key part of Leicester City’s FA Cup triumph at the expense of James Maddison. Maddison is clearly the more skilful of the two players, but Rodgers has sagely recognised on occasions that the pressing and defensive work of Perez in the number 10 role to be far more beneficial in getting results over the line.
But did we really spend that much money on an attacking player for his defensive qualities and aggression? Should Leicester City let him leave to enable them to bring in a more consistently threatening player? No doubt you will have your own opinion and we are all entitled to it. Personally, I can see what he brings to the team but equally, I can understand why he frustrates so many.
What I can’t understand is the levels of vitriol posted on social media regarding the player. Disrespectful and disgusting are some of the words I would use to describe comments of people who claim to be Leicester City fans. I say ‘claim’ as it’s possible some are posing as Leicester fans to bring down a former player of their club.
But if you are a Leicester fan and you are hammering Perez online, ask yourself why and what you’re achieving. Making a video highlighting everything he does wrong in a pre-season friendly goes beyond analysis and starts to become a vendetta.
Plenty before have turned it around before such as Jamie Vardy and Kelechi Iheanacho. Get behind your players while they wear the shirt, especially Perez whose efforts and work rate are never less than exemplary. Well done to the ones that puncture his criticism with encouragement, hopefully those are the ones that he remembers most.
Rating: 6.5/10
Chances of leaving: 50%
Future: Difficult to see him ever winning over certain Leicester City fans.