Ayoze Pérez
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Ayoze Pérez Gutiérrez (born 29 July 1993) is a Spanish professional
footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...
who plays as a
forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...
or attacking midfielder for La Liga club Real Betis, on loan from Premier League club Leicester City. He began his career at hometown club CD Tenerife, where he received several personal awards for his performances in the
2013–14 Segunda División The 2013–14 Segunda División season (known as the ''Liga Adelante'' for sponsorship reasons) was the 83rd since its establishment. The season started on 17 August 2013 and the league phase of 42 rounds ended on 8 June 2014. The entire season en ...
season before joining Newcastle for around €3 million. Pérez has represented Spain internationally at under-21 level.


Club career


Tenerife

Born in
Santa Cruz de Tenerife Santa Cruz de Tenerife, commonly abbreviated as Santa Cruz (), is a city, the capital of the island of Tenerife, Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and capital of the Canary Islands. Santa Cruz has a population of 206,593 (2013) within its admi ...
,
Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...
, Pérez finished his formation with local club Tenerife, making his senior debut with the B-team in the 2011–12 season, in the
fourth division Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...
. He appeared with the main squad in the third level in the following campaign, featuring in 16 matches and scoring once as the ''Blanquiazules'' returned to
division two NCL Division Two The NCL or National Conference League Division Two (known as the Kingstone Press NCL Division Two) League winners {, class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;" , - , colspan=4 style="text-align:center;" , NCL DIVISION TWO , ...
after a two-year absence. After impressing in the 2013 pre-season, Pérez played his first professional match on 18 August, starting in a 1–0 away defeat against
Alcorcón Alcorcón () is a city and municipality of Spain located in the Community of Madrid. as of 2020, it had a population of 172,384. Geography The municipality, largely flat, lies at an average altitude of 711 metres above sea level, with the h ...
. He scored his first goal in the "silver category" on 29 September, in a 1–0 home win over
Real Madrid Castilla Real Madrid Castilla Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football team that plays in Primera Federación – Group 1 for the 2022–23 season. It is Real Madrid's reserve team. They play their home games at the Alfredo Di Stéfano Stadium with a cap ...
. On 23 March of the following year Pérez scored his first hat-trick of his career, starting in a 5–0 thrashing against Ponferradina. This was one of the performances which earned him the league's Player of the Month award, which he retained for a second consecutive time while his manager Álvaro Cervera won the equivalent. In October 2014, Pérez won the ''Breakthrough Player in the 2013–14 Segunda División'' and ''Best Attacking Midfielder in the 2013–14 Segunda División'' awards at the LFP Awards Ceremony.


Newcastle United

On 5 June 2014, Pérez rejected interest from
Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...
, Barcelona and Porto to join Premier League club
Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...
for an estimated €3 million fee. The deal was confirmed a day later. He made his league debut on 17 August, replacing fellow debutant
Emmanuel Rivière Emmanuel José Rivière (born 3 March 1990) is a Martiniquais professional footballer. Rivière primarily plays in the lead striker role, but can also operate on wings. He was a French youth international having played at all levels before swi ...
in the 83rd minute of a 2–0 home defeat against then champions
Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...
. Pérez scored his first goal in his first league start on 26 October, in a 2–1 away win over Tottenham Hotspur. Six days later, as a half-time substitute for
Papiss Cissé Papiss Demba Cissé (; born 3 June 1985) is a Senegalese professional footballer who plays as a forward for Ligue 2 club Amiens. He formerly played for the Senegal national football team. Formerly of SC Freiburg, he once held the record of most ...
, he scored the only goal of the game to defeat Liverpool and give Newcastle their fourth successive win. On 9 November, Pérez made it three league goals in as many games in a 2–0 away win against West Bromwich Albion. He scored less frequently in the second half of the season as Newcastle struggled, but his equaliser against the same opponents on 9 May 2015 ended a run of eight consecutive defeats under John Carver, as Newcastle avoided relegation. Pérez scored Newcastle's first in a 2–2 draw with title holders Chelsea on 26 September 2015. On 18 October, he recorded a goal in a 6–2 rout of Norwich City, Newcastle's first win of the season. He scored the only goal of an away win at
Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the Southern ...
on 7 November, with Newcastle's only shot on target. On 13 December, as a substitute, he scored an added-time winner at Tottenham Hotspur, moving Newcastle out of the relegation places. On 1 February 2016, Newcastle United announced that Pérez signed a new contract, committing himself to the club until the summer of 2021. Pérez stayed with Newcastle despite a drop into the Championship, helping the club return to the Premiership immediately after one season. Pérez ended the season with 9 goals in 25 appearances, with 11 of them coming as starts, scoring key goals against title rivals Brighton as well as Barnsley to help seal the Championship title on the final day of the season. He scored his first Premier League goal of the season in a 2–2 draw at Southampton on 15 October. He then scored in consecutive matches in a 1–0 away win over
Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...
and a brace in a 3–1 home win over Luton in the FA Cup. On 31 March 2018, Pérez ended his 8-match goalless run by scoring the only goal in a victory over Huddersfield, in the 80th minute. Pérez continued his good form with a goal and an assist each, in wins over Leicester City and
Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...
. On 20 April 2019, he scored his first hat-trick for the club in a 3–1 win over Southampton. In doing so, he became the first player to score a Premier League hat-trick for Newcastle since Georginio Wijnaldum in 2015.


Leicester City

On 4 July 2019, Pérez signed a four-year contract with Leicester City for a fee of £30m. He made his competitive debut for Leicester City in a 0–0 draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers on 11 August. On 25 October 2019, Perez scored his first goal for Leicester City, going on to complete a hat-trick in a 9–0 away win over Southampton. On 11 April 2021, Pérez was one of three players dropped from Leicester's squad for the game against West Ham United after breaching COVID-19 protocols.


Loan to Real Betis

On 31 January 2023, Pérez joined Real Betis on loan for the remainder of the 2022–23 season. He scored his first goal for the club in a Europa League match against Manchester United at Old Trafford on 9 March 2023.


International career

On 29 August 2014, Pérez received his first call-up to the Spain national under-21 team for the 2015 European Under-21 Championships qualifying matches against Hungary and Austria. He made his under-21 debut as a 77th-minute substitute for
Munir El Haddadi Munir El Haddadi Mohamed ( ar, منير الحدادي; born 1 September 1995), or simply Munir, is a professional footballer who plays as a forward for Spanish club Getafe and the Morocco national team. Munir began his career in the youth ra ...
against Hungary on 4 September.


Personal life

Pérez's older brother, Samuel, is also a forward, who has played for Blyth Spartans and Berwick Rangers. He currently plays for Alnwick Town in the
Northern Football Alliance The Northern Football Alliance is a football league based in the North East, England. It has four divisions headed by the Premier Division, which sits at step 7 (or level 11) of the National League System. The top club in the Premier Division ...
Premier Division. His cousin María José Pérez is a forward for
Levante UD Femenino Levante Unión Deportiva Femenino is the women's football team of Valencian football club Levante UD, based at Ciudad Deportiva in Buñol and playing in the Liga F. History Founded in 1993 as San Vicente CFF, the team was absorbed by Levant ...
and the Spain women's national team. After leaving Newcastle, Perez became the subject of a comedy drama based on a true story when a teenage girl convinced her parents to buy the property next to his. On the day they moved in, Perez was transferred to Leicester City. The show, starring ex-Emmerdale star
Charlie Hardwick Claire Elizabeth Hardwick (born 3 November 1960)
''
Newcastle Evening Chronicle The ''Evening Chronicle'', now referred to as ''The Comical'', is a daily newspaper produced in Newcastle upon Tyne covering North regional news, but primarily focused on Newcastle upon Tyne and surrounding area. The ''Comical'' is published by ...
as “the most incredible story to come out of the WAGS generation”.


Career statistics


Honours

Newcastle United *
EFL Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...
: 2016–17 Leicester City * FA Cup:
2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...
*
FA Community Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier Le ...
:
2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...
Individual *
Segunda División Player of the Month The Player of the Month is an association football award that recognises the best Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second profes ...
: March 2014, April 2014 *Segunda División Breakthrough Player: 2013–14 *Segunda División Best Attacking Midfielder: 2013–14 *Segunda División Team of the Season: 2013–14


References


External links


Newcastle official profile
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pérez, Ayoze 1993 births Living people Footballers from Santa Cruz de Tenerife Spanish footballers Spain under-21 international footballers Association football forwards CD Tenerife B players CD Tenerife players Newcastle United F.C. players Leicester City F.C. players Real Betis players Tercera División players Segunda División B players Segunda División players Premier League players English Football League players FA Cup Final players Spanish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Spanish expatriate sportspeople in England