Unhappy Lucas Perez feels 'tricked' at Arsenal, says he was unfairly treated by Gunners

Arsenal forward Lucas Perez has expressed his unhappiness towards the Gunners and Arsene Wenger for not treating him fairly and giving away the No 9 shirt to Alexandre Lacazette without informing the Spaniard.

The 28-year-old was signed by the north London club from Deportivo La Coruna last summer. However, Wenger preferred to use Alexis Sanchez and Olivier Giroud to lead his side's attack, forcing the former La Liga man to settle for a place on the bench.

Perez made only six starts across all competitions for the Emirates club during the 2016/17 season. Lack of playing time has seen him linked with a return to Deportivo. IBTimes UK has revealed the Spanish club have tabled a bid for around €10m (£9m, $11.6m) in re-signing their former player.

Arsenal signed Lacazette for a club-record transfer fee of £52.6m ($68m) from Lyon earlier this summer. The decision to hand the France international the No 9 shirt has not gone down well with Perez.

"They [Arsenal] are not being fair with me. The act of taking away my [shirt] number without telling me anything to give to a teammate, that was the last straw for me," Perez explained, as reported by ESPN.

"It is unfortunate. And I can't go on this way. I have given them everything, but they haven't responded in kind. And I can't take it anymore."

"Last year I barely had any opportunities and when I had them I took advantage of them. And this season it is clear that it is going to be more of the same. I want to fight for the chance to play on the national team.

"I want to play football. But to do that I have to leave. And I think where I will be better off is in my home, with Depor."

Perez had an opportunity to leave Arsenal earlier in this calendar year. However, Wenger convinced the Spaniard to continue at the Emirates Stadium after assuring him that he will get his chances.

The attacker stressed that he feels tricked by Arsenal after they decided against letting him leave in February and also by handing the No 9 shirt to Lacazette.

"I feel like I was tricked. In February I was not allowed to leave for China but it was promised that I would be playing more and then I had even fewer opportunities. But the shirt number was an ugly gesture," he stressed.

"The least they could have done was to let me know before [it was made public] even if they were going to take it away anyway. It is something the club was not involved in. On the trip, Lacazette asked the manager and he agreed to it [the number change]. Afterward, they communicated it to us."