Arsenal Football Club can confirm that Carlos Vela has completed a permanent move to Real Sociedad for an undisclosed fee.
The Mexican international spent the whole of 2011/12 on loan with the Spanish club and enjoyed a successful campaign in La Liga, scoring 12 times in 35 appearances.
Vela, who scored 11 times in 62 games for the Gunners, made his Arsenal debut against Newcastle United in 2008. He scored a hat-trick on his first start in a 6-0 win over Sheffield United in the League Cup.
A regular in the first-team squad throughout the rest of the 2008/09 campaign, his progress was hampered by injury during the 2009/10 season, before he found form and fitness in the second half of the campaign during a successful loan stint with West Bromwich Albibion.
The 23-year-old’s final competitive game for the Gunners came in the 1-0 defeat by Ipswich Town in January 2011’s League Cup semi-final. He was involved in five of Arsenal’s six pre-season games last year, scoring in both matches on the Asia Tour against a Malaysia XI in Kuala Lumpur and Hangzhou Greentown in China.
