The most gifted Spaniard since Albert Luque

Mention the number 9 shirt in Newcastle and fans will immediately conjure up images of Alan Shearer running away from goal one hand raised in the hair, Les Ferdinand out-jumping two burly centre backs to score a bullet header or Andy Cole with a clinical finish after receiving an exquisite pass from Peter Beardsley. It is quite rightly a famous shirt in these parts and the likes of Obafemi Martins, Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse have all had a go at bring the new number 9 hero in recent times. Whilst they have all come close, and provided Newcastle United fans with some wonderful memories over the years, none have reached the higher echelons that Shearer, Ferdinand and Cole achieved.

However, I don’t want to talk about strikers in this blog, I want to touch on the role of the provider, and how Newcastle United haven’t really had anyone in this role who has been as effective as Peter Beardsley; a player who would class himself as a forward but wasn’t necessarily expected to score 20+ goals, his main role was to feed his strike partner and boy did he manage that well.

Football these days has changed significantly since Beardsley last played for Newcastle United. Most Premier League sides now play with a lone striker with pacey, skillful wide-men in support. In Beardsley’s era it was often a fairly standard 4-4-2 system with one stereotypical “English centre forward” and a more creative player alongside, a role which Beardsley successfully filled for the likes of Newcastle United, Liverpool, Everton and England. Ironically, since Steve McClaren has reverted back to a loose 4-4-2 system, we’ve actually started to pick up some points

In modern day football, mostly in the Spanish and Italian leagues to be fair, a lot of teams employ a “number 10″ role; a player to sit behind the striker and between the wingers, he’s often referred to as the trequartista. The trequartista (Italian for three quarters) is traditionally a talented striker, or attacking midfielder who is given a free role to work his creative magic in the side; he floats from attack to midfield and often sits “in the hole”. He is expected to chip in with his share of goals but his main role is to feed the main striker, the target man, the poacher, the Alan Shearer type.

Whilst this role is less common in the Premier League, mostly down to the sheer pace and physicality of the game, I still feel there is a case for it. Recent Newcastle United managers have signed the likes of Remy Cabella, Florian Thauvin, Hatem Ben Arfa and Siem De Jong; all players who played the number 10 role effectively in their home country leagues but you could argue that all have failed to replicate that form at Newcastle United. Ben Arfa came close but ultimately fell victim to the usual Newcastle United curse of being completely inconsistent. Far too often we see glimpses of truly world class talent, but that’s all they are, glimpses.

The one player who has taken on the role this season is Ayoze Perez. Perez has the creativity to make goal scoring opportunities for his team mates as well as (quite often actually) for himself too. He is very young and still learning but he does remind me of Peter Beardsley a lot; he has an uncanny knack to keep the ball when under pressure, he rarely loses possession and he appears to be a highly intelligent football; he reads the game extremely well.

He has recently been linked with a January transfer window move to Manchester United and every Newcastle United fan can see why. We are good judges of talent and big things beckon for Ayoze Perez. Unfortunately this is a symptom of what we now are, a stepping stone club; players sign for us for a relatively low fee, they raise their profile, put in some good performances, score some goals and they get their move. Newcastle United cash in.

I wrote a blog soon after this season started highlighting Newcastle United’s poor form and how it could have been down to influential figures in the dressing room being unhappy. Cheick Tiote and Moussa Sissoko were reportedly the subject of bids from other Premier League sides, offering European football, this summer, the offers were turned down and both players reluctantly stayed. I made the point that having unhappy players who have so much influence on the squad was possibly not a great thing and perhaps they should have been sold?

With Ayoze Perez I am the exact opposite. We need to use Ayoze Perez as a beacon for hope. We have a truly gifted player on our hands and we need to build a team around him, rather than cash in now. We’ve already seen the potential of an emerging Aleksandar Mitrovic/Ayoze Perez partnership; both are young, hungry, talented players and it would be a travesty to mess around with that.

I am sure Ayoze Perez will move to a bigger club at some point in his career but I do hope he sees his future at Newcastle United, at least for the next couple of seasons. Yes, he is a wonderful player but at Newcastle he is all but guaranteed to start most games. He is a key figure in the side these days and at Manchester United he will be on the bench. He is still a developing player and he needs to be playing games in the best league in the world.

It’ no secret that we need to bring in players this January but the top priority for Lee Charnley, Steve McClaren, Mike Ashley and Graham Carr should be to keep Ayoze Perez. Do not sell Ayoze Perez.