Arsenal are claimed to be ready to accept as little as £25 Million to allow Nicolas Pepe to leave the club, a whopping £47 Million less than they paid Lille to sign him three summers ago.
The Ivory Coast international remains our club record signing after arriving from the French Ligue 1 on the back of an incredible season in which he scored 23 and assisted 12 in his 43 outings in all competitions, but he struggled to find anything close to that consistency in England.
Pepe did enjoy a strong end to the 2019-20 campaign shortly after Arteta had come in to take over from Unai Emery, and also enjoyed a short revival towards the end of the 2020-21 season also, but each time the new season came around he struggled for game time.
Those short spells of form are clearly not enough to warrant a first-team role, especially when we have the likes of Bukayo Saka, Emile Smith Rowe and Gabriel Martinelli fighting for the two wider roles at present, and TheSun now claims that we are set to cut our losses and allow him to leave for as little as £25 Million, almost a third of the price we paid for him in 2019.
I don’t think any of this will come as a shock to anyone, as we can hardly demand a substantial fee for a player who has just one goal and one assist from his 17 PL appearances this term, in which he was selected to start just five times thus far.
That £25 Million may not cover much of our outlay, but his value is only on the downturn, and with just two years remaining on his current terms, it would be silly to allow this to go on any longer.
Does anyone believe Pepe should have been given more playing time this season?
Patrick
If we are winning comfortably, then we can include him, but reality is that we struggle to win most games with good margins, so letting someone undo the others hard work is not right. Right call by Mikel, results are more valuable than the value of the player.
If any player is not given the support required, then what chance has he got?
Of course we paid over the odds for him – yet another mistake by the gazidis backed three musketeers – but what REAL chances has MA given him?
He has conducted himself in an exemplary manner and I believe we are letting a real talent go cheaply, if the article is correct.
What he needed was support and coaching – something that MA seems reluctant to do with certain players…. in my opinion.
Agree with this post.
Agree, but i personally still think Pepe has the ability to live up to the price tag – fast, skilful and a very good finisher, he’s got everything, but probably just needs to simplify his game, make his mind up quicker and be more direct in his approach. If he hasn’t been told this many times, it’s negligent imo. I kind of get the impression he’s not aware of what he needs to do to break into this team, but could be wrong
Of course he had his chance but constantly failed to make use of it.i hope you saw origi of pool on sunday,took his chance after so many days as an unused sub we can’t afford to keep playing who constantly give away possession when we are in need of goals,he can only have himself to blame but i think he should be tried as a cf where he won’t get to do much…… just finishing.
Give me the examples of the chances he has had, what the outcome of the games were and what happened next?
Why did he do so well in the AC?
I don’t know how much longer Arsenal fans can expect kronkie to keep haemorrhageing money, due to bad investments – it seems everyone expects him to keep giving and getting nothing in return!!!
Imagine it’s your money and you’re losing it hand over fist!!
Yes he had gotten some chances and didn’t make good on it, can’t remember the succession of games, but I do think he needs more than that.
I strongly agree with your last statement, this practice of spending on no return is not sustainable.
Saw in a recent article Arsenal has spent millions of pounds than most clubs, so contrary to popular sentiment, the owners do invest heavily
Is he going to get more time. Of course as we have few attacking options and next season he will have many opportunities as we are back in Europe. As for his sale and taking a big loss. No I don’t see that at all. 72m for Pepe and 18mill salary so far = 90mill. So Arsenal are going to want a minimum of 45-50 mill in a sale/ deal/ trade.
Eddie scored his 1st 2 goals this season v Chelsea. Xhaka scored his first goal of the season v Man U. Tavarez scored his first ever Arsenal goal v Man U. If we can play Tavarez who puts 4 shots into row Z and concedes a penalty or a goal mistake every game Pepe is surely no more of a risk. On that basis Pepe probably scores a goal a game in each of the last five games.
I can’ see pepe getting anymore playing time next season than he has had this season. We’ve had few attacking options this season and he has been benched most of the time. If Nketiah and Laca leave, willl Pepe get more starts? I don’t think so, especially If we buy another striker which we read about on a daily basis. If Nketiah stays why would Pepe get game time over him as Arteta seems to favour Nketiah.
Shocking amount to pay for Pepe
I suspect Chelsea fans feel the same about the cost of Lukaku. Pogba is another example. The world of football and how it operates financially is murky.
You can blame Arteta for not using him if you like. It is though, up to MA to pick his team. If Pepe had cost no more than £20m no one would bat an eyelid whether he played or not.
For me Pepe is still arsenal’s best player because despite his limited game time, when ever he’s been called upon and have the ball at his feet it’s like he going to make something happen or set up a teamate to score a goal. Arsenal came from behind to beat Wolves, all thanks to Pepe who made it happen. He came in and turned the game around in just a few minutes. Arteta should give him more game time.
If we are in Europe next season (as we are likely to be), and we don’t exit the domestic cup competitions early as we did this season, there’d be many more games to play and the likes of Pepe should have more playing time to show their worth .
They should be patient
Arteta has not shown confidence in certain players, no matter their quality or skills set. We tend to give him the praise when players excel yet, we fail to blame him for not improving their standard. Surely, Pepe is very skilful, but, Arteta has failed to make the use of his talents, especially against difficult defensive teams . Keeping possession don’t win you games. Scoring goals certainly does. Look at the Brighton and Southampton matches, Arsenal dominated possession 60% and 70% respectively, yet, lose the games because Arsenal failed to score. If Arteta can get better at using best players suited against certain teams, with proper rotation like Pepe and Klopp are doing, he will become a great coach. Arteta has admitted that he lacked the confidence to trust Nketiah until he didn’t have a choice. It’s the same with Pepe, Elneny and Saliba. Pepe and Elneny were top performers at Afcon as they made the team of the tournament, while Saliba has gone on to become a France international before playing for Arsenal. Arteta must stop being bias. In the last two games had it not been for Elneny’s performances in the midfield, Arsenal could have been worst off. The coach is supposed to instill confidence in the players and not marginalizing them. By not using Pepe adequately, Arteta has surely responsible for his gross devaluation. There were sufficient times, when Arteta could have made better use of players on the bench .
Yes I think he should have been given more playing time, but even that I don’t think would have been enough to resurrect his career.
As I mentioned in a previous article Pepe need an entire season in a team where he is a starter.
I still dont believe he has to be sold in the summer, as his value has plummeted dramatically.
Send him on loan to a recently promoted club, and ensure there is a clause in it that dictates he starts every game unless injury. Or the loaned club pay a fee if he’s not started.
I wonder how the 72 million man would fancy a season on loan?