Sold for £30m, now worth just £3m: NUFC pulled an absolute blinder with shocking flop - opinion

Newcastle United may not have had much success in the transfer market in recent years, but one that looks like an absolutely stunning piece of business is what happened with former star Ayoze Perez.

Having signed him from Tenerife for just £1.5m, there’s no questioning that the Magpies got their money’s worth from the Spaniard.

The the versatile attacker came in a relative unknown back in the summer of 2014, with then manager Alan Pardew insisting that the Tyneside club had pulled off a real coup to seal his signature.

He said: “We’re delighted to confirm our first signing of the summer and very pleased to have Ayoze at Newcastle United, as a number of other clubs were chasing his signature too.

“He had a terrific season in Spain last year and is a player who we hope to develop further on Tyneside. He’s only 20 but has a very good eye for goal and that’s a great asset for any young player to have.”

Perez ended up playing a whopping 195 times for the club, scoring 48 goals and providing a further 17 assists across all competitions – he made his biggest contribution for the Magpies however during Rafa Benitez’s stint as manager, making over 100 appearances for his fellow Spaniard.

In the end, following Benitez’s departure from the club, Perez also followed suit.

The Magpies got some big-money for the forward though, pocketing a very hefty £30m from fellow Premier League side Leicester – quite the tasty £28.5m profit from what they initially paid for him.

Since his move to the King Power Stadium, the forward hasn’t shown anywhere near enough to justify the Foxes paying such a sizeable sum for him.

He’s played 90 times for Brendan Rodgers’ side and scored just 12 goals and only provided nine assists, while he’s had major