Full name: Ayoze Pérez Gutiérrez
Date of birth: July 23rd 1993
Place of birth: Santa Cruz de Tenerife
Height: 178cm
Main position: Striker
Secondary position: Right Wing, False Nine
Preferred foot: Right
Contract until: June 30th 2019
Key attributes: Pace; Flair; High work rate
At the age of just 17, Ayoze Perez was released by the Tenerife B team, and he found himself plugging away in a team five divisions below the Primera Liga. Just two years later, he caught the eye of Tenerife again and he featured in his first professional fixture in August 2013, and scored his first goal in a 1-0 win over Real Madrid Castilla a month later.
Ayoze joined Premier League club Newcastle United for a bargain fee of (rumoured) €2m. He reportedly turned down world football giants, Barcelona and Real Madrid to move to the North East of England.
The Spaniard brought his eye-catching skills and his fortitude to demonstrate his ability quickly. Teammate Mehdi Abeid said, “The first days he was training we could see just how good a player he is technically.” He then went onto say “He showed us he has some great skills, and we could see that he could be a really big player for us this season. We knew straight away that he is a very, very good player in the way that other people are starting to see now.”
Perez has played 30 games for the Magpies and has scored five goals. Key highlights of his were the goal against Tottenham Hotspur, the smash from the six-yard area against Liverpool and the audacious & brilliant back heel against West Bromwich Albion.
Not only has Ayoze brought a few goals to his game, he works his socks off. A player, who closes down defenders, works hard to win the ball back and does superb things with the ball. In his time at St James Park, he has provided some great passages of play.
The Toon fans celebrate his performances on the pitch as a revelation due to the inconsistent performances from the rest of the team and the disappointing results. The Newcastle team has been fairly mediocre, apart from the run of wins, but Ayoze has been a stand out character for me.
Some super jinks and pieces of skills to take it past defenders have entertained me as a Newcastle fan and have entertained neutrals. His goal scoring record has been good comparing it to his record at Tenerife, it shows he can bring goals.
With 17 goals in 35 outings for Tenerife, this record is good in the Segunda division. Five goals from his first 24 appearances in the Premier League, arguably the toughest in the world, is promising.
Before highlighting his name in world football, he won a few individual accolades prior to his move to Newcastle. He managed to capture the award of ‘Segunda Breakthrough Player of the Year’ and he made it into the ‘Segunda Team of the Season’ for 2013-14. After his performances for Tenerife, he secured a call up to the Spain international Under-21 team, on 29th August 2014. He made his Under-21 debut when he replaced Barcelona’s Munir El Haddadi in the 77th minute against Hungary in September.
Ayoze is very strong at dribbling with the ball – which he often does – and is good with the ball at his feet. He likes to play short passes with a teammate, which highlights his background in Spanish football. These short passes are taught in Spain from a very young age.
The 21-year-old is on his way to becoming a big time player in world football and his performances at Newcastle suggest big clubs will have him on their radar. Personally, I don’t see him remaining on Tyneside much longer after this season due to him being a bright spark for the future of football.
However, Perez isn’t all good, and has some flaws of course. One of his weaknesses is his aerial ability. Due to him being more of a flare player, he isn’t typically strong when challenging for the ball in the air. This means if he is played up front on his own at Newcastle, with the way they play, he’s going to have no chance due to the long ball tactic Newcastle tend to adopt quite a lot (especially when playing Mike Williamson). You could argue that he holds on to the ball too long at certain times, but you could also suggest that he is enthusiastic and positive going forward. Sometimes he just needs to release the ball. He can play short passes but I am sceptical about his long passing game, but he doesn’t really need to spray balls around park due to his style and position.
Ayoze has time to improve and mature as a player. I imagine he will become a top player in a few years if he improves and matures correctly.
