Ayoze Perez left Leicester City on loan six months prior to the Foxes’ relegation in 2023 as he secured a return to his homeland with Real Betis.
That move was made permanent that summer as Leicester City prepared for life in the Championship and Ayoze Perez has enjoyed a fruitful spell in Spain.
Having scored 15 goals and provided four assists in 59 games for Real Betis, Perez was again on the move this summer as he signed for Villarreal.
He has started the season on fire for his new club, scoring six goals in seven matches, and has been talking about his career in a recent interview.
Ayoze Perez on £30m Leicester City transfer
Perez first arrived in England in 2014 as he signed for Newcastle United from CD Tenerife as a 21-year-old.
After impressing across four seasons at the club, Leicester secured a £30 million deal for the forward who would then spend three years at the King Power before returning to Spain permanently.
Perez has opened up on his career in an interview with El Periodico Mediterraneo, where he was asked why he decided to swap Newcastle for Leicester.
Perez responded: “The truth is that after five years at Newcastle I needed a change, both sporting and mental and I signed for Leicester in 2019, years after they won the Premier League.
“Brendan Rodgers bet on me and they were very beautiful years in which we achieved two titles, the FA Cup and the Community Shield, and we returned to Europe, returning Leicester to the top of a football as competitive as the English one.”
Perez’s Leicester City career in numbers
Perez will be best remembered by Leicester fans for his hat-trick in the record-equalling 9-0 win away at Southampton in October 2019, but it is fair to say he never really justified his £30 million price tag.
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The winger scored eight goals and provided five assists in his first season at the club, but managed just 15 goals and 12 assists across 115 games in total.
In fact, in both his second and third season Perez managed just two Premier League goals and his five from Newcastle can go down as a failed transfer.