Lucas Pérez: “My parents abandoned me when I was two and now they are asking me for money for life”

Lucas Pérez went from competing in Primera, with Cádiz, to playing in Primera Federación, on December 31, 2023, with the Deportivo de la Coruña shirt, the club of his life, but the utopian return home, with the intention of retiring at Riazor, was abruptly cut short in the last winter market, despite promotion to Segunda, due to disagreements with the board and pushed by a tough and difficult family situation.

“I want people to know what I have experienced. Last season I experienced stressful and overwhelming situations, we lost to Celta’s reserve team and we were relegated at the start of the season. Then a burofax arrived at the club which was a complaint from my father,” the veteran Galician striker, aged 36, who was signed in recent days by PSV Eindhoven, a Champions League team, began to relate on El Partidazo de Cope .

My parents decided that they did not want to take care of me. I spent several days in the Casa Crib, a hospice, and then my grandparents took over." Lucas Perez PSV Eindhoven footballer

“I was raised by my paternal grandparents. My parents decided that they did not want to take care of me. I spent several days in the Casa Crib, a hospice, and then my grandparents took care of me. They left me when I was two years old. I had not felt supported at the club for a few months and then I received a letter from my father, asking me for support, a significant amount of money, for the rest of his life,” he continued.

Lucas Pérez, “accustomed to living alone after the death of his grandparents”, said that his “father decided his path and then appeared out of necessity”. “The life that footballers live is exposed to many opinions and it is not easy to open up emotionally. I would like to talk about everything but I would not like to make a mistake because I am in a legal process”, said, visibly emotional, the Coruña native, who had been “for months”, “up to the day of his farewell” to Deportivo, with “a lot of stress and anguish from having to relive difficult moments”.

“I have gone to social services to ask for information. I have read my case again from when I was a child. That there have been more complaints. Injuries. A child needs a father and a mother as role models, and I have been lucky enough to have my grandparents, but they have not lasted as long as I think they should have,” Pérez concluded his story before denying that his departure from Deportivo has “an economic interest.”

“I found out that there are people at the club who are asking for my departure. It hurt me a lot and I was surprised because nobody spoke to me. I was the first one who was worried about the team's situation,” he added about the first doubts that arose within the club regarding the striker, “supported by the manager, the captains and the teammates.”

"I found out that there are people at the club who are asking for my departure. It hurt me a lot and I was surprised because nobody spoke to me." Lucas Perez PSV Eindhoven footballer

Lucas Pérez, who denied having negotiated with any other club while at Deportivo, not even Rayo Vallecano, which was strongly linked, did not think about retiring either: “Not because I love football very much. Although there were times, with this family situation, when things go through my head, especially when you take the step of returning home. Life puts you in situations where you have to be strong, and I consider myself strong and brave. When I take the step of leaving football, let it be on a pitch, not in this unpleasant situation and neither the fans nor I deserved it. These words are for them so they can understand my situation.”