West Ham’s spending could be on the rise yet again. If certain reports are to be believed, Maxi Gomez’ release clause has been hit. Gomez, who currently plays for Celta Vigo, has a release clause thought to be around the €45,000,000 mark. I’m not sure whether Pellegrini would bring in Gomez as well as Lucas Perez from Arsenal. Or whether it would be one or the other. So, guess what time it is? That’s right, comparison time! We shall compare the aforementioned pair alongside Arnautovic and Andy Carroll. Sound fair enough? Smashing. Before we compare, let’s have a look at the profiles of Gomez and Perez.
Player Profiles
I’ll be straight up with you. I’ve got a soft spot for Maxi Gomez after signing him for Wolves on Football Manager. He was an absolute revelation, to say the least. However, that was in the Championship and you know as well as I do that there is a big difference in the top flight to the second-tier in England. And, naturally, there is just a slight difference between Football Manager and real life. As much as it pains me to say it. As the story goes, Gomez was quite the success story in real life, as well. In thirty-six La Liga games, he scored eighteen goals. It’s perhaps somewhat of a shock that nobody else has really been linked to him. Let’s move onto Lucas Perez.
Lucas Perez is a strange cookie. Not that any of what has happened is overly his fault. Wenger brought him to Arsenal for a cool fee of €14,000,000. It was one of those transfers where Wenger needed a striker but didn’t want to pay top dollar and ended up with a striker who is better suited to someone, well, like West Ham. He had one full season with Arsenal which yielded little action. The grand total of two hundred and sixty-five minutes. Whopping. Deportivo resigned him on loan on transfer deadline day of last year. In comparison to Gomez’ eighteen goals, Perez only scored eight. Let’s move that to one side and look at all the stats we need.
Comparison
For some reason, this shows Maxi Gomez as playing thirty-two rather than the thirty-six I said earlier. Let’s not worry about the details. However, I just want to make it crystal clear that I’m right. As usual. Anyway, let’s get down to business. We’re looking at the above stats per ninety minutes due to the fact that Gomez played more football than anyone else. Let’s get to it. Total shots kicks us off and Andy ‘no picture’ Carroll takes an early lead with an impressive 3.02 shots, which is almost double Perez’ total of 1.62. While Carroll may be top of the total shots, he’s let down by his shot accuracy. Carroll is the only one of the four to be under 50%, Gomez keeps his run going of being solid rather than spectacular.
Arguably, the most important stat is this next one. Gomez wins goals scored by 0.06 from Arnautovic and is a rather substantial 0.31 ahead of Perez. We close with pass completion. This is the only one that Perez wins and maybe that explains why Arsene Wenger invested in him. Or am I just chatting nonsense? That could well be the case. Looking over the comparison, Gomez is only below second on one of the stats. Total shots. Yet he scored the most goals. Quality over quantity.
Conclusion
It’s a risk spending €45,000,000 on a striker who has had one good season in La Liga. It isn’t spending £4,000,000 on Perez. Four million is pocket change in this day and age. Either way, I think I would opt for Gomez. Once again, it might be my Football Manager head talking. Regardless of the fee, there’s no arguing who has the more potential. Yup, Gomez.. Fuck it, Pellegrini, sign both of them.
One More Thing
If I was a betting man and luckily I am, I’d be backing Maxi Gomez to hit double figures in the Premier League if he made the move from Celta Vigo.
Until the next time.
