Lucas Perez says he turned down January move to Barca

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The forward didn’t want to leave Alaves

Lucas Perez was one of the names that kept popping up in Barcelona transfer rumors over the last couple months.

The Alaves attacker became a name that Barcelona were pretty keen on signing. He was an early player in the minds in power at Barca to replace the production that an injured Luis Suarez left behind.

He ended up staying at Alaves, which could be better for him as a player in the long run He talked about his career, as well as the Barcelona interest in an interview with Marca.

“Teams usually call in transfer markets. It wasn’t only Barcelona who called, but others as well. My only thoughts were to end the season here though because I have a contract and I’m happy. My only focus is playing here and not taking another wrong step and end up not playing, like what happened in England. I never planned to leave mid-season.”

“It’s not the first time Barcelona or another big club have called me. But I have a clear idea of what I want to do and I want to feel like a player, which is how I feel here. Alaves have shown me a lot of love since the beginning and at the end of the season I’ll see what happens. But I have a contract with Alaves, I’m very happy at the club and in Vitoria, and that’s shown on the pitch.”

Perez | Source

Perez was thought to haev a release clause of around €20m, but Barca ended up paying €18m to bring in Martin Braithwaite from Leganes instead.

Source: barcablaugranes.com