Arsenal have slapped a £13.4 million price tag on want away striker Lucas Perez after the Spaniard handed in a formal transfer request to leave the club, his agent has confirmed to Goal.
The 28-year-old has cut a frustrated figure at Emirates Stadium since arriving from Deportivo La Coruna last summer and struggled for game time despite scoring seven goals in 21 appearances in all competitions for Arsene Wenger's side.
Arsenal 11/1 to win Premier League
Goal exclusively revealed in February that Perez had set his sights on leaving Arsenal after being left frustrated with a lack of first-team opportunities.
“€15m (£13.4m) is an expensive price,” Rodrigo Fernandez Lovelle told Goal.
“Lucas wants to go to the World Cup and be happy at a place where he has opportunities to play.”
Perez believes he has to leave Arsenal to fulfil his ambition of playing for Spain at the 2018 World Cup and several clubs including Deportivo and Fenerbahce remain the clubs most interested in the forward - and Perez has set his sights on a return to his boyhood Spanish team.
GettyArsenal however, are refusing to let Lucas leave until a club pays their full €15m asking price and it's understood that the player remains upset that he only found out that his squad number was handed to summer signing Alexandre Lacazette after looking on Arsenal's official website.
"He [transfer negotiator Dick Law] called me and when they gave the number it was already on the Arsenal website," Fernandez Lovelle told Goal.
"I thought it was not very elegant that they did not at least tell the player first."
Wenger met with Perez for talks over his lack of playing time earlier last season, when the player told the Frenchman he was unhappy with his lack of opportunities in the team.
“Yes, because we have a congestion of strikers,” said Wenger when asked whether Lucas will leave this summer.
“I don’t like to lose him because, for me, he’s a top-quality striker but we have many strikers.
“At some stage, too much competition is not competition anymore. You cannot give a chance to everybody, so if he finds a satisfying solution, at least for a short time, he will do it.”
Wenger: Arsenal have to cope with no CL
The Gunners boss had previously urged the forward to stay and fight for his place at the club but is now ready to sanction a transfer if Arsenal receive a viable offer from a team outside the Premier League.
Perez, who has a contract with Arsenal until June 2020, faces competition upfront from the likes of Olivier Giroud and new signing Alexandre Lacazette.