Arsenal forward Lucas Perez wants to stay at Arsenal and fight for his place despite reported interest from Sporting Lisbon and West Ham United, according to The Independent.

What's the story?

The 29-year-old joined the Gunners from Deportivo La Coruna back in 2016 for a reported fee of £17.1million.

He has since gone on to make just 11 league appearances for Arsenal and then returned to Deportivo on loan last season, where he scored eight goals in 35 games.

The forward featured in Unai Emery's first two pre-season games this summer and according to the report he wants to stay at Arsenal next season.

Perez has been linked with moves to Sporting Lisbon and West Ham United this summer.

[brid autoplay="true" video="275149" player="12034" title="Rafa's Pub Facts Zlatan Richarlison & Alisson"]

What should Arsenal do?

It's an encouraging sign for Arsenal that a fringe player wants to stay and fight at the club and it shows the positive influence Unai Emery is having at the club this summer.

However, they have to be realistic and know that at 29, Perez is unlikely to improve drastically and hasn't shown that he's cut out for top-flight English football.

Arsenal have one of the best strikers around in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang but clearly Perez backs himself to displace the talented forward.

He's unlikely to command a big transfer fee but Arsenal  will need backup this season so perhaps it would be best to keep him on their books and see if he can reward the faith the club are putting in him.