Until last week, the Ivorian was the Gunners’ record signing. They paid an eye-watering £72 million (BBC) to sign him from Lille four years ago, and it has to be said that he hasn’t delivered.
Pepe spent a year back in France last season on loan from Arsenal, and Arteta admitted in his press conference last night that he was expecting more from the winger.
Mikel Arteta says Arsenal wanted more from Nicolas Pepe last season
In the season before Arsenal broke the bank to sign Nicolas Pepe, the winger was one of the best players in Ligue 1 alongside Kylian Mbappe.
The now-28-year-old scored 23 goals and provided 12 assists in his final campaign at Lille. He was unstoppable that season, and that convinced the Gunners to splash the cash.
Pepe was expected to become a star at Arsenal as well following his big-money move in 2019, but he just hasn’t lived up to his price tag, has he?
Arteta has now claimed he was hoping Pepe would show his class on loan at Nice last season, but that just didn’t happen.
The Spaniard said, as per Arsenal.com: “At the moment he is recovering from an injury which is why he’s not here.
“He had a spell on loan and obviously we wanted to get much more than we got from that loan spell. We have to see when we come back, understand what the plans are and make the right decision for him.”Pepe really had a disappointing season at Nice.
The £140,000-a-week (Spotrac) Ivorian made 16 consecutive appearances in Ligue 1 for the club after joining them, but he only managed to score six goals and provide an assist in that period, which is not great.
Pepe then suffered two knee injuries, which limited him to just three more appearances in the league for Nice. The French outfit decided they don’t want to sign him on a permanent deal in the end, and he’ll be back at Arsenal soon.
We just can’t see a future for Pepe at Arsenal. It is extremely likely he will be allowed to leave in the coming weeks.
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