Lucas Perez has admitted that he is inspired to achieve great things at Arsenal during his time at the club as he looks to follow in the steps of some past legends.

The 27-year-old striker particularly looked up to Jose Antonio Reyes when growing up - a member of the Gunners' unbeaten side of 2003-04 when last lifting the Premier League title.

"Well, obviously everyone knows about Arsenal's legendary players, such as [Thierry] Henry and [Dennis] Bergkamp," he told Arsenal's official website. "I really admired Reyes, who's a fellow Spaniard.

"There's [Robert] Pires and [Patrick] Vieira too - that was a wonderful time for Arsenal and everyone knows all those players. People know all about them in Spain and that history of having legends at the club is part of the reason Arsenal are so popular."

Perez, who is thought to have set the North London outfit back around £17m when joining from Deportivo La Coruna earlier this week, is also relishing the chance to link up with some of the club's Spanish contingent.

"[Hector] Bellerin said hello and so did [Santi] Cazorla - they were both here at the training ground," he added.

"I've seen them play and things but I don't know them personally because I only started playing in La Liga two years ago, by which time they'd certainly come here, so I never got the chance to meet them in person."

Perez scored a total of 17 goals in the Spanish top flight last season, including a particularly fruitful spell when hitting seven in seven.