Darren Bent shared he was a little bit surprised that Newcastle United had sold Ayoze Perez to Leicester City.
The former Premier League forward revealed he liked the 25-year-old attacker and thought he did well for the Magpies last year, in what was a tough time for them.
Bent remarked on how great a job manager Rafa Benitez did at Newcastle in his 2018/19 season, before adding that he thought Perez would fit in well at Leicester City under Brendan Rodgers.
“Little bit of a surprise, but I do like Perez, I thought he was good last year for Newcastle in what was a tough year for them and they managed to survive,” said Bent on talkSPORT (17:38, Thursday, July 4th).
“I thought Rafa did a great job so I think going to Leicester under Brendan Rodgers and the way he plays the game…I think he’ll fit in quite well there.
“I don’t think he will start as I think they have the dynamics of their team in place, the way they play fast counter-attacking football, so I don’t think he will start straight away, but it won’t be too long until he is in there.”
OPINION
Leicester City confirmed on their official website on Thursday that they had signed Perez from the Magpies, with Sky Sports reporting they paid £30million for him, and Newcastle do look worse off for his exit. The 25-year-old finished his 2018/19 campaign as the Magpies’ top-scorer after racking up 13 goals in his 41 outings. Perez averaged a goal every 229 minutes, with 60% of his shots hitting the target (Source: BBC), so it shows how important he was to the Magpies’ attack. However, it is worth pointing out that £30million is a respectable fee for the Magpies to receive for him. After all the Magpies only paid £1.5million to sign Perez from Tenerife in 2014, as per BBC, and he does have a tendency to be frustrating in front of goal. The Spanish attacker may have ended top of the club’s scorer charts after scoring six goals in his last five games of the season, but he missed more than his fair share of chances. Perez missed seven big chances across his 37 league outings, according to the Premier League, which was the joint most at the Magpies.
