Ayoze Perez has been one of our standout players this season, and is currently our top goalscorer in the Premier League. The Spaniard’s efforts, though, have still not been enough for top pundit Danny Mills, who slammed the midfielder during an interview with Football Insider.
The former England right-back, best known for his time with Leeds United, has stated that he is still ‘unconvinced’ by the 25-year-old, and feels he is yet to do enough to warrant a ‘big’ move away from St James’ Park.
“He’s done it for just the one season,” Mills claimed. “To get a big move you need to do it over two or three seasons. He hasn’t been great in the past; he’s been in and out.
“Okay, it’s gone well for him this year. I think if you buy a player off the back of one season, does it show that they are good enough? I’m not convinced. He’s done better – eleven goals for a forward, I think Glenn Murray’s got eleven goals this season? – would you buy Glenn Murray ahead of Ayoze Perez?
“He plays in that forward line, Glenn Murray hasn’t played a lot of football but he’s scored more goals – and he’s 35.
“Is eleven goals outstanding for a forward player? Not massively. He’s done better than before and he’s done okay, but I don’t think he’ll get a big move off the back of that.”
Not that we want Perez to move on from Tyneside anytime soon, but criticising the £9million-rated ace on previous records is just wrong, even if we can’t really deny that he has struggled in the past.
For one, he has scored each of our last five goals, and it could be argued that he finally has the right set-up around him through Miguel Almiron and Salamon Rondon – allowing the former U21 international to flourish.
It is no coincidence, either, that Perez’s goal blitz began after we captured Almiron from MLS outfit Atlanta United, as the Paraguayan took some of the responsibilities off of our fan favourite Spaniard’s shoulders, and allowed him to become more of the player we expected him to be when he arrived from CD Tenerife.