According to reports in the London Evening Standard, Newcastle United have entered the race to sign Arsenal striker Lucas Perez, but they are unwilling to meet his £13.4m price tag.

What’s the word, then?

Well, the London Evening Standard says Perez is desperate to move on after a difficult first season with Arsenal, and that Magpies manager Rafa Benitez lodged his interest in the 28-year-old last week, although a formal offer is yet to be made.

The London Evening Standard says that is because Newcastle are believed to prefer a loan move for the Spaniard, who would expect to be a regular at St James’ Park if he did join the newly-promoted Premier League side.

United will face competition for Perez from his former club Deportivo La Coruna, with the report adding that the La Liga outfit had a £9m bid to bring the striker back to Spain rejected by the Gunners last week.

How did Perez do last season?

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Despite scoring 17 goals in 37 appearances in all competitions for Deportivo La Coruna during the 2015/16 campaign, Perez struggled to make an impression at the Emirates last season with the likes of Alexis Sanchez, Olivier Giroud and Danny Welbeck preferred in the centre-forward’s position.

The 28-year-old made 21 outings in total for the Gunners last term, but he didn’t do too badly after netting seven goals as well as providing a further five assists in just 948 minutes of action.

Would he be a good signing for Newcastle?

He certainly would be, yes.

Perez showed enough in his limited time on the pitch for Arsenal last season that he can make an impact at this level, with a fine finish in the thrilling 3-3 draw away at Bournemouth particularly impressive, as well as the hat-trick against Basel in the Champions League.

Benitez will want to boost his attacking options with only Dwight Gayle, Aleksandar Mitrovic, Siem de Jong and Emmanuel Riviere to choose from up top right now, with the latter likely to leave St James’ Park before the transfer window closes at the end of this month.

The fact that Perez is available for £13.4m should be another attractive proposition in a market where prices have been severely inflated this summer, but it remains to be seen whether they are willing to sign the Spaniard on a permanent deal.

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