Nigel Pearson was blown away by Ayoze Perez after he scored a hat-trick in Newcastle United’s 3-1 win against Southampton at St James’ Park on Saturday evening.
Perez, 25, has been in superb form in the last few months and enjoyed one of his best ever performances in black and white stripes this weekend as he fired the Magpies to a massive three points.
Speaking on Goals on Sunday, former Leicester and Derby boss Pearson was impressed by the quality of Ayoze’s finishes.
“They’re very clever and intelligent,” Pearson said on Sunday morning [Sky Sports Main Event, 11:22am]. “They’re great examples of a striker in form.
“The first goal is a great finish.
“The second one is just a fabulous run because you look at where the defenders are, he’s committing to get in there to the back post. It’s a super ball but it’s a great run.
“And then the third one, when I first saw it, I didn’t quite see that it was deliberate. It was a really good finish.”
OPINION
Go back to the first half of the season and Newcastle fans wouldn’t believe that Perez would be the key player in their bid for survival this season. The Spanish attacker has been wonderful in the last few weeks and has really come into his own when playing up top with Miguel Almiron and Salomon Rondon. Perez has now scored 11 goals and supplied four assists in 38 appearances across all competitions, which is a very impressive record for a player who has been widely-criticised by many Newcastle fans since joining the club in 2014. He seems to have finally reached his prime, and that is great news for the Magpies. It will be interesting to see if there are any clubs that become interested in signing him in the summer. Newcastle fans won’t want to hear about losing any of their key players, but Perez’s form is unlikely to be ignored by teams which much bigger budgets than Rafa Benitez.