Forgotten 37yo ex-Gunner ends 8 month search for new club | OneFootball

Eight months after leaving his last club, former Arsenal forward Lucas Perez has found a new one, returning to Cadiz for the second time in his career.

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The Segunda División side, currently 18th in the table, announced the signing of the 37-year-old on Thursday, with the deal running until the end of the season.

He was available as a free agent, allowing Cadiz to take advantage of the regulations permitting clubs to register a player without a team following Lucas’s departure from PSV Eindhoven in the summer.

It brings him back to a club he previously represented in the 2021-22 and 22-23 seasons, when he played 31 times, scoring eight and assisting two.

For Arsenal supporters, Lucas remains an often forgotten figure after a brief but productive spell in north London.

He joined from Deportivo La Coruña in August 2016 after Arsenal triggered his €20m buyout clause following a strong La Liga campaign in which he had scored 17 goals and supplied 11 assists.

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His competitive Arsenal debut came on 10 September 2016 in a 2-1 home win over this weekend’s FA Cup opponents Southampton, when he assisted Laurent Koscielny.

Across the 2016-17 season he made 21 appearances in all competitions and scored seven goals, including one in the Premier League with the others coming in the FA Cup, League Cup and Champions League.

His standout moment came away to Basel, where he scored a hat-trick in the group stage.

Even so, Lucas never secured a regular starting place under Arsene Wenger, who used him largely as a squad option behind Alexis Sanchez, Olivier Giroud and others.

After a single season, he returned to Deportivo on loan for 2017-18, before leaving Arsenal permanently for West Ham United in 2018.

His time at Arsenal was short, but not without silverware. He was part of the squad that won the FA Cup in 2016-17, the Community Shield in 2017 and, most importantly of them all, the Emirates Cup in 2017.

Now, after a period just five months in the last 15 with a club, the former Gunner has another chance to make an impact in familiar surroundings.