Nicolas Pepe has acknowledged the significant assistance he received from Mikel Arteta when the manager initially arrived at the club.
Pepe, who has struggled to make a notable impact at the Emirates Stadium, was loaned out to Nice during the previous season. As a result, his future at Arsenal remains uncertain, and he has encountered a decline in playing time under Arteta over the past few seasons.
Despite the challenges, Arteta provided Pepe with numerous opportunities to showcase his talent and prove himself as a top player. Unfortunately, Pepe was unable to seize those chances, leaving his future prospects in doubt.
There were speculations among certain fans that Arteta didn’t have faith in the former Lille player from the moment he joined the club, leading to a strained relationship. However, Pepe has dismissed these claims, indicating that they are baseless and unfounded.
He said via Planet Sport:
“He helped me in every way, on a tactical level, in terms of game intelligence because his philosophy requires a lot of intelligence. He knew my style of play wasn’t waiting in possession, it was cutting inside, it wasn’t waiting out on the right.
“Before, I was a bit freer. I had to wait in my zone, and I wasn’t like that before. These are parts of my game that he tried to improve. He always wanted to help me with all of that.”
Just Arsenal Opinion
Pepe has simply been too poor for us and the Ivorian knows he has missed his chance to make a name with our shirt.
After signing new players, we need to focus on offloading some deadwood and he should be among the first to leave.
CALLING ALL ARSENAL FANS! Anyone who would like to contribute an Article or Video opinion piece on JustArsenal, please contact us through this link…