Well, look: want? No, but there are opportunities.
But for you or for the club?
You have to understand the situation. Arsenal paid €21,400,000 for me. And a club that has the kind of debt that Deportivo had at that time, it’s hard for them. I had cost them something like €1.5m. They’re multiplying their profit many times over. It’s not that they put me up against the wall or anything but they tell you what the situation is: they saw that money as being good for them, to help them improve [the situation], to grow.
So, well, what happened, happened. For me it was a chance to go to Arsenal: it’s one of the biggest clubs in the world, I won two trophies there, it’s the best club I have been at in my career in terms of its history, its fan base, the people I played with, everything. It was incredible, really good for me personally. I had never won anything; I did there. I was coached by Arsene Wenger, one of the best in history.
But it didn’t go as you hoped.
Wenger called me, told me he trusted in me, that he had seen lots of videos. I got on very well with him. But then I didn’t get opportunities. He had Olivier Giroud, Alexis Sanchez, Danny Welbeck, Mesut Ozil. Arsenal sign chosen ones. I didn’t demand to start all the time, but a few minutes. I scored a hat trick in the Champions League and then didn’t play a minute in three, four games. So of course you feel frustration but you do understand it: the best players in the world are there alongside you.
You go to training and there’s Alexis ready to play. And you think: are you better than Alexis? He’s very good too. He was having a great year, one of the best with Ozil, Santi Cazorla. Giroud didn’t play much — and he’s a world champion, you know? Alexis was in great shape, amazing form. The manager wants to win in the end: and we did win. My numbers aren’t bad: I finished that season with nine goals and six or seven assists. I played 1,000 minutes. If I play every game that works out at 20, 25 goals. And the fans have always shown me a lot of affection, they seem to have good memories of me.
You have a year back on loan at Depor and then West Ham sign you. Is that return to England in 2018 about proving a point after what happened at Arsenal?
No. It was a chance to try the Premier League again. In the end, they didn’t put their faith in me, but that’s normal, that’s football: not every player will play well. I then went to Alaves and there I was top scorer until the pandemic because they played me, trusted in me and it came off.
The line between success and failure is very fine.
I don’t see it as failure. It’s football, not a failure. Sometimes it doesn’t happen. How many times have players gone somewhere and it hasn’t worked? Then they go somewhere else and they’re really good? Take Alexis: he was incredible when I was at Arsenal, then he goes to Manchester United and nothing. So? Are we saying he’s a bad player now? No. Maybe it wasn’t quite right for him. We’re people. It’s very hard to make it, we have to appreciate that.
But you’re the Messi of Primera RFEF.
Buah! Not at all! Let me go up with Depor and play against him in primera.
But he wont be there.
Maybe he’ll come back. God willing. I have played against him lots of times. We have suffered him at Riazor. Let us suffer him again — or try not to. That would be nice. Playing Cadiz would be incredible. If I score, they’ll understand. It would piss them off but they would be happy for me.
And then a Depor-Celta in the first division. That’s the game I would most like. I can’t even imagine promotion; I don’t want to. I want to live it. I would love to be able to retire from football leaving Deportivo in primera. That would be nice.
How many years do you have left?
Lots. Because I still have the desire, the passion. I’ve not had too many big injuries, no operations. As long as I enjoy it, I laugh, I come here each day and love it, I’ll keep going. I’m doing what I always wanted to do. I’ve been in football since I was a little kid learning to tie my laces, until the day that you untie your boots for the last time and hang them up, the day you leave football behind, nothing will be the same. The smell of the grass in the morning: it’s unique.
A friend who is a Depor fan says she cried when you came back — and she hadn’t cried for ten years. Are you aware of just how big the impact has been?
We’re people, we have feeling: to see someone so happy for you, so pleased you’re there, is priceless. People here have lived through so many disappointments, the situation at the club is not easy, you feel that it’s just not happening, that football has not been giving this city back what this city was giving football. What this city was chasing, what it was dreaming of, was just out of reach. And maybe in me they see hope, belief.
People talk about the ‘Lucas Effect,’ and if that effect has been generated, I’m happy. But anything I have given was repaid many times the moment I saw all those people at my presentation. It was cheap! That’s the greatest affection I have ever felt in my life. I will carry that with me forever. One day I will tell me son: I lived that.
What would your grandparents think?
They would be very proud. If there’s anything I could change in my life, I would give everything to be with my grandparents. I was 14 when my granddad died, 16 when my grandmother died, I wasn’t truly conscious of everything they mean. In my case, even more so because they were the parents I never really had. I want my son to spend lots of time with them here, because that link is special. The love and grandmother and a grandfather have, no one does.
