The striker’s goals have been responsible for five of Yellows’ 11 points at the start of the season
The signing of Ayoze Pérez by Villarreal CF is the exact definition of instant performance. The player, born in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, has started the 2024/25 season at an extraordinary level, mainly due to his goal-scoring ability: three goals in the first five league games, which, moreover, have meant five of the eleven points he has earned and which allow the Yellow Submarine to move up to fourth place. To make matters worse, two of his three goals have come in stoppage time.
Ayoze arrived at Villarreal CF in the recently concluded summer transfer window after a great season at Real Betis, scoring 11 goals and two assists in all competitions, and after being part of the Spanish national team that won the European Championship. In a summer of many movements and changes in the squad, the Yellow Submarine signed a striker with different resources in the final metres, who can play and perform in different attacking positions and with more than evident experience at 31 years of age.
His outstanding performance in the first five league games, occupying one of the two positions up front in Marcelino García Toral’s usual 4-4-2, makes him one of the hottest names in Spanish football at the moment and one of the main reasons, if not the biggest, why Villarreal CF are in the Champions League places: goal against Sevilla in the 95th minute, decisive for the first three points of the season, volleying a loose ball in the box; scorer of the equaliser in the Valencian derby with his weaker foot from the edge of the box; and again, the winning goal at the death, attacking the ball at the near post in last weekend’s match against Mallorca.
These three goals, which place him as the second top scorer in the domestic competition, tied with eight other players and only behind Lewandowski, have double the merit and importance if you take into account that they have always been useful to score points and that two of them, the victories at the Sánchez-Pizjuán and Son Moix, have come in stoppage time. Immediate performance, goalscoring impact and the ability to pop up at key moments to decide games. A simply marvellous start to the season from a ‘clutch’ player at Villarreal who has already won the affection of all the fans.
Meanwhile, Ayoze has been called up to the Spanish national team for the third time in his career, the 23rd player in the history of Villarreal CF to do so, and has started for the first time with ‘La Roja’ in an official match, in the UEFA Nations League tie against Serbia, playing a total of 57 minutes.
