Newcastle played a blinder with Perez sale

Newcastle United supporters hardly ever had any cause to reward Mike Ashley throughout his turbulent ownership of the club, though one case during which the St James’ Park trustworthy might effectively applaud the Englishman is concerning the sale of former Magpies striker Ayoze Perez.

The ahead had been signed for a payment of simply £1.5m from Tenerife in 2014, with reports suggesting that he had even snubbed the likes of Barcelona and Actual Madrid in an effort to come to the Premier League, having scored 17 targets and offered seven assists in 51 video games for his earlier membership.

The versatile attacker rapidly turned a key determine for the Tynesiders over the subsequent few years, finally racking up 195 appearances for the membership in all competitions, scoring 48 targets and supplying 17 assists.

That five-year spell notably noticed the previous Spain under-21 worldwide show integral in securing promotion out of the Championship in 2017 – having scored nine league targets – whereas he additionally netted 12 top-flight targets in his closing marketing campaign on the membership in 2018/19.

Having been a key determine underneath compatriot Rafael Benitez, the departure of the previous Liverpool boss in the end sparked Perez’s exit from St James’ Park, with the 5 foot 10 menace opting to hitch Leicester Metropolis in 2019.

Though one thing of a blow on the time, the choice to sanction the Spaniard’s departure has grow to be to look an actual masterstroke by these at Newcastle, with Ashley having performed a blinder in securing a hefty £30m payment for a participant who was a dependable, but removed from prolific, goalscorer.

Now valued at a measly £9m by Transfermarkt, the 29-year-old has endured an actual decline since his departure from St James’ Park, with reports earlier this summer season having even steered that he might safe a transfer elsewhere.

As Leicester now face the prospect of shedding him for nothing subsequent summer season with lower than a 12 months left on his current contract, that £30m windfall now appears to be like much more astute by Ashley and co – significantly contemplating that these funds had been subsequently used to assist safe the £16.5m arrival of present talisman Allan Saint-Maximin later that summer season.