The grass wasn’t greener on the other side for Ayoze Perez

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Ayoze Perez in his last two seasons at Newcastle United really came into life, both times during the second half of the Premier League campaign. He scored plenty of important goals which helped secure Rafael Benitez’s side 10th and 13th place.

In the summer of 2019, the Spaniard left Newcastle to join Leicester City for £30 million (BBC Sport). It was certainly a hefty fee that Newcastle got for Perez, but it was still sad to see him leave. He’d been with the club since 2014 and provided some good memories and key goals.

However, since the forward’s move to Leicester, the Toon will feel they got a great deal for him. Considering they signed him for £1.5 million from Tenerife (The Guardian), Newcastle made a £28.5 million profit on him.

As Perez’s time at Leicester has gone on, his minutes have diminished

The 28-year-old is now in his third season at Leicester. The former Newcastle man has gotten fewer minutes season by season since his big-money move.

In his first season (2019/20) he made 33 appearances and the following season he made 25. But currently, in the 2021/2022 campaign, he’s only played 8 times.

Additionally, since 2022 began, Perez has only played one minute of Premier League football. He came off the bench against Brighton back in January.

Perez does have an FA Cup winners medal to his name and he did net a hat-trick against Southampton in his first season. Funnily enough, it was only a few months before that he got his first Premier League hat-trick with Newcastle, also against the Saints.

There have been many players who’ve left Newcastle in order to make that step-up and test themselves. Georgino Wijnaldum had success at Liverpool where he won Premier League and Champions League titles.

However, Perez won’t be in that category. Perhaps he might consider a move away this summer to try his hand elsewhere. It’s unlikely Newcastle would look to bring him back, the new riches mean they can afford to look at higher-profile players.