Three goals in, and already Ayoze Perez is looking like a future Newcastle United hero. He cost nothing, came from an inauspicious former club in Tenerife and was identified as one for the future (despite ringing endorsements from most Spanish based journalists who saw him play last year). If you thought he was going to start against Spurs and West Brom at the start of the season, you would probably have been laughed out of the pub. But now things have changed: we're told Barcelona, Real Madrid and Porto were vanquished in their attempts to sign the young Spaniard and that Lee Charnley pulled off a masterstroke - on the advice of Graham Carr - and Alan Pardew's eyes are twinkling at the prospect he's got (even if he keeps saying there's room for improvement). The back-heel flick he scored against West Brom was the mark of genius blossoming, and Newcastle fans will already be looking to the future. The prospect of having a fully fit Siem De Jong playing behind him and playing him in is mouth-watering to say the least - provided he could actually get in the team. But then, inevitably, there's a pessimistic note to seeing any talent at St. James' Park now: while excitement builds so too does the expectation that the player will be sold. Already fans are imagining the situation where Ashley sells him on - perhaps to one of those big name suitors - in a couple of years at most, and laughs his way to the bank. Unfortunately, Perez was a bargain, costing apparently just under 2million - a figure he has already paid back with the three goals he's already scored (if you consider how much money is earned per Premier League position in the final table). So the point where he becomes hugely profitable is closer in sight than if he'd cost £10m. Knowing the business model at Newcastle, it would probably only take a bid of £5m or so to be deemed a major profit on investment. What isn't clear is how the club will classify where that bankable profit margin becomes too good to turn down: Andy Carroll's was £35m, and he cost nothing, so maybe there's hope that Perez would cost serious money if his development continues as it should. Hopefully, like Rolando Aarons, Perez's development will be so meteoric that his price tag gets beyond the affordable point, and it will take something like Andy Carroll money to prize him away from the club. The club should realise that having pure, low cost talent like that on the books is good for the long-term value of the brand, but they will inevitably have to wrestle with the idea that one big sale could sustain the transfer activity of the club alone for a whole year. Let's just hope they realise that letting that value creep up will be best for both potential outcomes. And the eternal optimist in me suggests that they will, because Andy Carroll was only sold when the club knew he was injured and would be problematic in the future. Once they were offered silly money, he was always going to go. So perhaps even sillier money is what it would take if Ayoze develops as he should.
