OPINION
Rafa Benitez has continued to keep the faith in Newcastle United attacker Ayoze Perez through thick and thin but the axe is finally looming over his head.
The 25-year-old, particularly this season, has continually struggled to impress as he doesn’t look able to be a goal threat or consistently carve out chances for his side in the Premier League.
In the ten league appearances he has made this season, he has registered one assist and has more often than not been a liability for his side.
Perez, who earns £45,000-a-week (Source: Spotrac), has the ability to bypass his opposition and make exciting runs.
However they tend to amount to nothing because his opponents then proceed to catch up with him in order to easily rob him of the ball due to him being a bit lightweight.
The Spanish attacker may have eventually found his goalscoring boots for a very brief period at the end of last season, but that isn’t really good enough to only deliver for a short period of time.
Benitez doesn’t have a fantastic lot of options when it comes to choosing another player to deployed in the No.10 role, so this has seen Perez continually keeping his place despite not addressing his lack or goals or appearing to improve.
However it seems the axe is finally looming over him as according to Benitez’s transfer wishlist, reported by the Chronicle, the manager has made it a priority to bring in a player to provide the 25-year-old with competition.
With the Spanish manager making the No.10 position a key area he is looking to improve, it shows that he is no doubt aware the club need a player who is an upgrade on Perez.
If the Spanish manager is successful then it will likely mean that Perez is no longer regularly starting games as his replacement should be able to knock him off his first-team perch.
So therefore given that Benitez is looking to get a player to compete with Perez, it means the axe is finally looming over the player who has struggled all season.
