Leicester star Perez admits he almost joined Valencia

Leicester City’s Ayoze Perez admits he came close to joining Valencia in the summer and that he misses Spanish food, the weather and way of life. Leicester paid £30m to sign Perez from Newcastle after the 25-year-old scored 12 Premier League goals last season to help the Magpies avoid relegation.
Valencia were heavily linked with the striker over the summer, but despite the lure of a return ‘home’ he chose to stay in England.
He told ABC: “I miss the food, the weather and the way of life in Spain – of course I would like to return!”
And, although Perez misses aspects of life on Spanish soil, he is not regretting his choice of club as Leicester look likely to contend for a Champions League place. “They offered me an ambitious project and made me feel that I would be a big part of it,” he added. “Obviously, the change has been very good for me in the field. Now I am in a daring team that wants to be in possession and play offensive football.”
The ex-Tenerife starlet has been in England for five turbulent years, during which he suffered relegation with Newcastle and saw managers come and go at St James’ Park.
Alan Pardew was in charge when he first arrived and was gone before he had really got to grips with the intensity of English football.
He now puts in extra training in the week to cope with the demands with two additional sessions having made a big difference to him.
He produced his best football under Rafa Benitez, who played him up front, but he has been deployed on the right to great affect so far by Foxes boss Brendan Rodgers.
The hat-trick he bagged in Leicester’s 9-0 demolition of Southampton took him to seventh on the all-time list of Spanish Premier League scorers with 36 goals.
And when asked about fulfilling his dream of playing in the Champions League, Perez revealed that the Leicester squad’s collective goal is not actually to finish as high as that.
He added: “At the start of the season we did an exercise where we chose our own objective. We chose to be among the top six.”