Lucas Perez is set to play in the EFL Cup against Southampton tonight, in a game that will go a long way to determining whether the attacker has a future at the Emirates.
The Spaniard joined from Deportivo in the summer, but has barely appeared for the Gunners thanks to the form of Alex Iwobi, Theo Walcott and Alexis Sanchez’s run in the team as a striker.
With Arsene Wenger looking set to rotate his side tonight, Perez comes into contention knowing he may not get too many more chances to play from the start and show what he can do.
It would be very premature to write off a talented player so quickly, but top teams simply don’t have the margin for error to persist with players who don’t fit the team very quickly. There’s little chance Arsenal would look to offload Perez in the summer, but they might seriously consider letting him go on loan unless he can show that he has enough to offer next season.