Signing Nicolas Pepe was a great piece of business for Arsenal, he is a top-class talent and hopefully will help propel the club to a successful season but I fear some perspective is being lost.
The way some fans are reacting on social media to the Philippe Coutinho rumour is eye-opening, I doubt that would have been so optimistic if the Pepe deal had not happened.
Under normal circumstances, the idea of Coutinho coming to Arsenal would have been ridiculous but that is the side effect of the Pepe deal.
A lot of fans feel that top-four is now nailed on, that any player is now within our grasp, that we are closing the gap to the top two and so on.
Nothing at all wrong with that, it is far better to optimistic than pessimistic and there was definitely a lot of that going around before Arsenal signed the Ivory Coast international.
But some perspective is required.
Pepe may need time to adapt, he may well not be as effective in the Premier League as he is in Ligue 1, Arsenal’s closest rivals are strengthening as well, the defence is still weak and so on.
The biggest side effect of the Pepe deal is that it raises expectations and if those expectations are not met straight away then the blame game will begin in earnest.
I am optimistic that Arsenal will have a great season but I am also realistic to know it is far from guaranteed, that Pepe is just one young lad and that we are still only in the Europa League and that a top-four finish is far from assured.