Newcastle United are unrecognisable from the team that struggled against the pit of the Premier League table when Eddie Howe replaced Steve Bruce at the helm.
The sharp-witted tactician might have inherited a team with newfound financial might, but many a lesser mind would have fallen at the first hurdle, for resurrecting St. James’ Park was a herculean task whichever way you looked at it and he exceeded expectations.
The transfer strategy has been, more or less, on point. The frontline, for example, has gone from strength to strength under the English manager, with Alexander Isak joining for a club-record £63m fee in 2022 and enjoying prolific success since.
Anthony Gordon, meanwhile, has made incremental improvements since signing from Everton in January 2023, forcing his way to Tyneside in a move worth £45m.
Newcastle have one of the finest attacking partnerships in the Premier League. Gordon was a revelation on the left wing last season, winning the club’s Player of the Year and being heralded for his “unbelievable” performances by Bruno Guimaraes.
Both, four matches into the current Premier League campaign, have scored one goal. They have yet to fully click into gear but this doesn’t really matter: Newcastle have ten points from 12 and look like a force once again after last year’s injury-ruined effort.
Interestingly, though, there’s a former Magpie who’s flying higher than both goalscorers combined this season. Indeed, Ayoze Pérez has been spectacular over in Spain.
Ayoze Pérez at Newcastle
Newcastle signed Perez from Tenerife for a paltry fee of £1.5m in June 2014, with Alan Pardew’s Toon outfit welcoming a talented young forward who had posted 16 goals and seven assists across 34 matches in Spain’s second tier the year before.
He would go on to perform for Newcastle for five years, to varying degrees of success, finishing with a total of 48 goals and 17 assists across 195 appearances. Tenacious and versatile, he featured across a range of roles and was hailed for his “unbelievable” work rate by Matt Ritchie.
Spread out season by season, that up-and-down form is highlighted. There was so much to like about Perez, but he was not a bona fide superstar and the pretty penny collected for his sale was quite something in the end.
Ayoze Perez: Newcastle Stats by Season | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Season | Apps | Goals | Assists |
2018/19 | 37 | 12 | 2 |
2017/18 | 36 | 8 | 4 |
2016/17* | 36 | 9 | 7 |
2015/16 | 34 | 6 | 2 |
2014/15 | 36 | 7 | 0 |
Stats via Transfermarkt *Newcastle were in the Championship | |||
His time at the club came to an end following the departure of his boss and countryman Rafa Benitez, with Leicester City seeing an opportunity and swooping in to sign the Spaniard on a £30m deal.
One of the brighter sparks in a gloomy era, Perez’s departure indeed presented United with quite the paycheck – the figure collected from the Foces equated to a profit of 1900%.
Say what you will, but this is an exceptional piece of business from pre-PIF United. It’s a massive figure to recoup after paying so little in the first place. Now, there’s only warmth at seeing him thrive in La Liga.
Ayoze Pérez is flying this season
Perez has been brilliant of late. Last year, he scored nine times in La Liga for Real Betis, starting 29 matches, while also bagging twice in the Europa League.
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His efforts last season even saw a call-up to the Spanish squad for the 2024 European Championship. Now, we all know how that went; those wounds are still fresh so let’s not dig into the grit of Ayoze’s tournament.
In any case. The 31-year-old’s return to national action and indeed victorious campaign bears testament to his cultured take on the later phase of his career, restoring his shooting touch with some gusto.
As per FBref, the 5 foot 10 talent ranks among the top 6% of attacking midfielders and wingers across Europe’s top five leagues over the past year for goals scored, the top 15% for tackles and the top 5% for blocks made per 90, showcasing a tough and determined style to complement his natural-born finishing ability.
Now a Villarreal player, he’s enjoyed some big moments since arriving at the backend of August, notching three strikes from only five games in the Spanish top flight. What’s more impressive is that Perez has only started two of those five fixtures, completing 63% of his dribbles and 80% of his passes too, as per Sofascore – highlighting his technical soundness and elite athleticism.
As you can see above, the nature of Perez’s strikes makes a telling comment on his big-game aura. The timing of the goals has ensured that the Yellow Submarine have claimed vital points in their bid to finish at the top of the table.
Perez’s three-goal return so far for Villarreal means that he has outscored both of Newcastle’s principal goal threats this season, also equalling Gordon’s total goal record for Newcastle – 14 strikes – since the start of last season, despite the fact that the England international completed his transfer in January 2023.
While Newcastle will certainly not rue the sale of a player who left for a handsome fee, there is perhaps an element of ruefulness that he was not involved under Howe’s wing. Fashioned into a centre-forward in the experienced stage of his career, Perez has enjoyed 82 career outings as a right winger, and given his potency, he might have been the perfect player to finish Newcastle’s current frontline with a flourish.
