Look away now West Ham fans – this Lucas Perez stat is madness

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West Ham United fans didn’t really bat much of an eyelid when Lucas Perez was sold in the summer.

The Spaniard was one of four attackers to depart the club, with Marko Arnautovic, Javier Hernandez and Andy Carroll all leaving as well.

Perez only signed for the Hammers in the summer of 2018 from Arsenal, but couldn’t make an impact for the Londoners.

Remarkably, he managed to make his paltry £4 million fee (football.london) look expensive.

Manuel Pellegrini used him sparingly, and he could only contribute six goals in 19 appearances.

Perez left West Ham for Deportivo Alaves for around £2.2 million (Sky Sports), and most people thought they wouldn’t be hearing from him again. That they could just pretend he never happened.

Unfortunately, Perez has set about showing how good a finisher he really is.

According to The Daily Mail, Perez is statistically Europe’s most clinical forward having converted 46.1% of his chances.

He may ‘only’ have seven goals to his name so far, but in terms of putting away chances there’s nobody better right now.

Of course, the likes of Kylian Mbappe and Robert Lewandowski have far more goals, but they are in teams that create more chances for them to squander.

Perez’s rate puts him marginally ahead of the Premier League’s Jamie Vardy (45.5%), whose finishing has been next level this term.

TBR’s view – Were West Ham too hasty?

Perez’s amazing form is getting to be quite uncomfortable for West Ham supporters.

Some might have thought he’d improve back in his homeland, but nobody would have predicted this kind of prolificacy.

Having struggled at Arsenal too, some put Perez’s failings in England down to adaptability issues.

But maybe he just wasn’t given a fair crack, with both Arsene Wenger and Pellegrini mostly keeping him on the fringes.