Ayoze Perez – Fantasy Football Potential

Leicester City have signed Newcastle midfielder Ayoze Perez for a fee of £30 million. The 25 year old has signed a 4 year deal after his personal best season of 12 goals in the league. He is Leicester’s second signing of the summer after they secured the services of James Justin from Luton Town.

Leicester manager Brendon Rodgers was happy to secure the services of the Spaniard. He said of Perez’s arrival

“I think Ayoze will be a wonderful addition to the squad. He’s quick, has a good eye for goal and he’s experienced in the Premier League too. I think he’s a player who will excite our supporters, and his style is one that I believe complements the options and quality that we already have here at the football club.”

Player History

Perez started his career with Tenerife in 2013/14, which was actually the season which earned his move to the Premier League the following season. He had an impressive campaign in Spain’s second division, scoring 16 goals and 7 assists in 34 appearances in the league.

In 2014, Newcastle beat the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona and Porto, signing the forward for a fee of around €3 million. Considering he was in his early 20’s, he did manage to do well by scoring 7 goals in 2368 minutes as Newcastle avoided relegation.

In the 2015/16 campaign there wasn’t much improvement in terms of output for Perez, with 6 goals and 2 assists, whilst Newcastle were relegated. That said, during the course of the Championship winning campaign he scored 9 goals, 7 assists along with 3 goals in 3 EFL Cup appearances. He continued his form back in the Premier League in 2017/18 with 8 goals and 4 assists, helping the Magpies to survival.

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Internationally, Perez has only managed to pay twice for the Spanish under-21’s and is yet to make the senior squad.

Fantasy Football Potential

Perez has an eye for goal, arriving late in the box and is considered very important for a side like Newcastle. Leicester is definitely a step up but the issue here is his place in the side. Maddison has been amazing since coming to the Premier League and he plays around the No.10 position, which is similar to Perez. So, it’s a bit puzzling how Rodgers adjusts both of them in the side. Maybe he might play second fiddle to Maddison or can be above Maddison, but this remains to be seen.

That said being Leicester City’s record signing, surely he has to have considerable game time and if so fantasy managers will be comparing him to the likes of Maddison and Vardy. Here is how he stacks up against them:

Player Perez Vardy Maddison
Mins Played 2916 2726 2831
Goals 12 18 7
Assists 2 5 7
Bonus 19 31 7
Points 141 174 137
Price £6.5 £9.0 £7.0
Mins per point 20.7 15.7 20.7

Being priced at £6.5m, Perez does stack up quite well against Vardy and Madison. Perez did score 33 points less than Vardy, reflected in it taking him 5 minutes extra per point last season, but that is reflected in the £2.5m price difference. Maddison on the other hand is priced £0.5m more than Perez, albeit earning les points than Perez.

One final point to note is Perez’s position change. Perez has been classified as a midfielder this season and if he was a midfielder last season then he would have scored 23 extra points due to the extra point per goal and clean sheet. This arguably makes him a more attractive proposition with 17.8 minutes per point, but will he get enough game time? He is certainly one to monitor during the pre-season.

Written by Tamish Behal (@Tamish_Behal)

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