Leicester City might come to regret allowing Ayoze Perez to leave on a free transfer, as his career has flourished in Spain. After being a fringe player during his last two seasons at Leicester, Perez was released in 2023 and signed with Real Betis. He netted 11 goals across all competitions, including a strong scoring run late in the season, which earned him a spot in Spain’s winning Euro 2024 squad and led to a €4m (£3.5m) move to Villarreal.
He’s had a fantastic start to the season, scoring six goals in seven La Liga matches, despite starting only four of them, averaging a goal every 69 minutes. His brace against Espanyol on Thursday secured a 2-1 win for his team, keeping them in fourth place, while also propelling him to second place in the league’s scoring charts.
This positions him above Real Madrid star Kylian Mbappe and Barcelona winger Raphinha, both of whom have scored five goals. The only player ahead of the former Leicester City forward is Robert Lewandowski, who has seven goals.
So far, Perez’s six goals are just two short of his best season tally at Leicester City, where he netted eight in his debut season after joining for £30 million from Newcastle. Initially a regular on the right wing, he even started the FA Cup final in his second season, where he was preferred to James Maddison in the number 10 position behind Jamie Vardy and Kelechi Iheanacho.
However, Perez’s inconsistency, along with the emergence of Maddison and Harvey Barnes, as well as the loan signing of Ademola Lookman in 2021, gradually relegated him to the periphery of the squad. In the 2021-22 season, he started just 11 matches across all competitions but still managed to make some impactful contributions, particularly in the Europa Conference League quarter-final against PSV Eindhoven.
In the 2022-23 season, which was marked by City’s relegation, Perez made just three Premier League starts in the first half of the season and spent the latter half—his final six months with City—on loan at Real Betis. Overall, he scored 15 goals in 114 appearances for City, a total he matched in just 59 games for Betis. Now, with Villarreal, he is on track to reach that milestone much more swiftly.
