Arsenal signed six new players during the summer transfer window.
Former player and current pundit Paul Merson has questioned why Arsenal signed Lucas Perez in the transfer window and hinted it was more of a panic buy, the Daily Star report.
Perez arrived at the Gunners from Deportivo La Coruna late in the transfer window, and he will provide competition to France international Olivier Giroud for that lone striker role up top.
Many Arsenal supporters were crying out for a new striker during the summer, yet few would have chosen Perez as their ideal candidate to come in and give the side a fresh alternative.
Merson, writing in his column for the Daily Star, suggests Wenger has panicked and says that if the Spanish striker was the right calibre of quality then he would have featured for the national team at 28 years of age.
“Arsene Wenger can’t seem to shake this habit of going lastminute.com in the transfer window,” Merson wrote.
“Jose Mourinho got all his business done early and went on holiday to chill. Wenger starts the season with half a squad, loses a game and is right under pressure.
“I’m not sure about Lucas Perez. If he’s so great why has he never played for Spain? And if they were so keen on him why didn’t they buy him when he was first offered to them weeks before the window closed?”
Perez did manage to score an impressive 17 La Liga goals for Deportivo La Coruna last season, yet prior to that his best goalscoring tally for the campaign is in single digits while plying his trade in Greece.
Wenger has taken a gamble on the 28-year-old, but it was arguably a gamble which needed to be done as without Giroud and the injured Danny Welbeck the Gunners lack striker options.
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