Nicolas Pepe is claimed to have hired a new agent to find him a move away from Arsenal this summer, but where did it all go wrong the former Lille forward?
The Ivory Coast international arrived in north London with huge potential, having joined on the back of a massive season in Ligue 1 where he notched up 21 goals and 11 assists for Lille, but it has been anything but plain-sailing since.
He struggled under Unai Emery initially, but looked to have found a new lease of life when Arteta took over the helm, helping us to win the FA Cup with a goal contribution in each of the quarter-final, semi-final and final (one goal and two assists), as well as picking up three goals and three assists in the league also.
For whatever reason, when the new season came around Pepe had seemingly lost his place in the starting line-up, and found much of his minutes coming in the Europa League and cup competitions, and even when starring in Europe, he would still lose his place when PL football returned. Once again when the final few months of the season was upon us however, he seemed to once again find a way to break into the manager’s plans and the move paid off with a number of performances. The same scenario repeated with him finding himself benched at the start of the next season also however, but this time, he has had very few minutes at all to try and prove his worth to the side.
The 26 year-old is now claimed to have tasked his new agent with finding him a move away from the club, as reported by Football.London, which will no doubt mean we are set to take a massive loss on the club record fee we shelled out to sign him for, with two more instalments still to pay on that deal.
I can’t help but feel that Pepe could have been used somewhat, instead of relying on our exuberance of youth, with some experience needed when push comes to shove, and he has previously shown that he can show his best when the final months of the campaign come by.
He was one of the players of the tournament at the AFCON, and the boss even admitted that he had returned full of confidence, but he rarely gave him more than 15 minutes to try and use it, and I can’t help but feel like we failed him, and we failed ourselves in doing so.
Do you think that Pepe could have helped our bid to finish in the top-four? Why didn’t he get the chance to continue his form on his return to north London? Could we not have at least protected our investment by giving him a fair amount of minutes?
Patrick
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Thank god and hope he gets him a new club very soon and takes tavares with him!
He failed arsenal and arteta fail him…. Please tell the agent to be fast I doing that
I totally agree with this statement.
But you have to credit how professional he has been throughout.
You hardly see players of his ability being treated this way and still be calm.
I mean we have heard a lot about players with egos, toxic, and arrogant in our team and somehow he never get into any of that and still get unfairly treated.
Leno? Elneny? Especially Leno, who has been professional all through. I think at some point Ramsdale should’ve sat for Leno again. Ramsdale has conceded a couple of silly goals over the last 2 months.
Goals you can bet Leno would’ve done better.
I’m not blaming Ramsdale for anything though. I’m just saying, when people talk about Pepe, remember Leno too.
You are not getting my point.
Leno is not the record signing of the team.
Secondly he only lost his position to ramsdale this season.
Meaning he has been 1st choice except this year.
3rdly, ability wise, both are not comparable despite their position.
Player like pepe are fancy. Their abilities wise set them apart from others.
All these I listed can’t be said of Leno or elneny to some extent.
Agree with you there and on Pepe’s attitude. Respect to him for that.
We were conned by the Pepe transfer. £70 million for such a limited mid table talent..
The people that pushed for this signing should be investigated by the Anti Fraud department..
And Pepe is sitting on about £120,000 a week. I bet you the poor guy couldn’t believe his luck. He seems like a very calm personality, nice guy but he has been paid millions for being a poor player at Arsenal..
Can’t blame him for that to be honest.
All the best to the guy..
Rushed back from the injury & Leno did really well in goal in his absence and should’ve stayed there until he messed up. That’s what competition is! Problem was Leno was defe leaving this summer as we have signed your man Turner from MLS and Okonkwo as back up.
I think it’s a failure from both sides to be honest. The player never seemed to adjust and improve, while Arteta never game him game time to establish any kind of form to build on.
Bit harsh to judge someone on such limited minutes, Arteta should have found ways to get him into more games.
Pepe should have improved himself and forced the issue by being to good to waste on the bench.
Waste of 72 million by Raul, waste of opportunity by Pepe, and waste of option by Arteta.
I disagree Durand! Pépé finished last season much improved,he was scoring regularly.i would love to know what happened during the summer that he could even get a game??then on his return from Acfon, MA praised him when pressed on Pépé by journalists,saying he came back a different player/person.
👍Pepe must have hit on Arteta’s wife over that summer.
I read the title and said exactly that. He failed us more gave us just glimpses. I now reglet buying a no 19 on my shirt when we signed him
I really like Pepe and he scored some amazing goals. As an attacking threat when given some space he’s awesome, but it’s when that isn’t the case that’s the problem. I reckon Arteta doesn’t fancy his off-the-ball play, and also his decision-making and creating space for other players, something that ESR/Martinelli/Saka/Odegaard do very well. Laca & Nketiah are also good at that, so Pepe stands out there for the wrong reasons, and perhaps that’s why he’s not seen as a good fit, despite being an exciting attacker sometimes.
And all these good players you mentioned, couldn’t score against newcastle. They weren’t composed enough in the box. Poor decision making.
With the likes of the regulars like ESR, SAKA, Martinelli, we still couldn’t make top4.
I would rather Arsenal sack Arteta and get a flexible manager who is not as egoistic, as arrogant and as NAIVE as Arteta.
Sorry to say this but the manager seems scared with established names or who’s in his team, that is why he wants so many young stars, Pepe is just part of the victims not wanted around
Look how poor saka has been playing because he has been played to the ground many times he looks as though he was playing with an injury, how bad did Pepe suddenly becomes that he can’t find minutes in this poor arsenal team that lacks goal scorers all over the pitch
But Saka is our best player. And bed players are first on the team sheet. And to say we overplayed him…… We only had a game a week! I wonder what you’ll day if we were playing European football
*best
Can we compare Sake’s contributions to the team against Pepe’s that of last season to see if he is that bad not to more start.
No we can’t compare, because that doesn’t fit the narrative. Pepe is bad, didn’t deserve chances, so ignore what he did deliver when he got the chance.
Thanks Pepe for your part against the Wolves at least, would have liked to seen more from you, and more chances from Arteta.
Change your name to Granit Xhaka or Ben White, you’ll probably walk into the lineup then. (sarcasm)
Been best player in the team doesn’t make you a super man. Been a teams best player doesn’t stop you from been fatigued or lossing form.
Pepe is not as bad as he is been painted the point is everything Arteta does is gold and justified
Pepe is lazy & unenthusiastic and we need everyone to step up. His confidence at the club is shot & it’s best for both partied of we shake hands, move on & wish each other well in our future endeavours.
He is a very fast skillful player but needs space, u don’t get alot in the Premier League and will fall flat on your face if you don’t have the fight in you to which Pepe doesn’t have unfortunately.
👍 Waiting to see Pepe at a new club under a supportive manager proving to be another “one who got away from Arsenal.”
Raul Sanheili paying over the odds was not Pepe’s fault. At the time plenty of other clubs were after him.
I think Arteta’s ego has proved a stumbling block for many.
He shouls have gone after his 2nd 8th place failure.
Mambo what if we end up in champions league 🙄
Pepe was never worth £72m. The fact we bought him for that instantly put more pressure on him to succeed. We’ve seen some great moments from him but I think the expectancy was just too great and ultimately he failed to achieve the great heights we all hoped he would. Question is, “How much will we get for him”? I doubt we will get even half of that amount. Just more bad business from AFC..
Emery wanted zaha he was given proe
Exactly what I was thinking GunneRay.
We paid £72m for him. Now, the whole situation has been mismanaged yet again and we may end up not even getting enough, to cover the remaining installments. Bad business, yet again.
Every transf window, we expect the owners to pump in money. How would they feel, watching their investments lose value most of the time?
he was not worth 72M but Pépé has got nothing to do with it.
Arteta’s man management skills haven’t been outstanding to say the least. His use of the bench has been appalling. Keeping everyone happy including squad players is base of any successful team. It all comes down to experience which our couch scarsley has or failed to learn
I would say Emery as well failed him ,he was also a big part player when he signed ,pretty much been that way since he joined ,he obviously as talent but for some reason it didn’t work out ,TBF he’s about one of a handful of players over the last 5 years that got me out of my seat when he was on it .
Can’t wait to see the back of Arteta even though I know our clueless and unambitious owners.will still keep him around
Emery wanted Zaha but the higher ups forced him to sign Pepe
Stephanie, Emery was forced to coach Pepe after Sanheili and Edu signed him rather than Zaha..
I think it Pepe has only been good in patches, but it’s his off the ball contribution that is the main issue.
Although I do feel sorry for him. Correct me if I am wrong, but although he was signed under Emery, Emery actually wanted Zaha. Pepe was a board signing. Arteta inherited him, and didn’t want him either. So Pepe has not felt any love from his managers, and some players need that.
Needs to be playing for a manager who actually wants him.
Pepe was a Raul signing I believe, and there were rumored kickbacks with the deal if I am not mistaken.
I apologize to Raul if I am wrong to accuse him of corruption. Please accept my apology, and I will just use “shady” when referring to him in the future.
NO apologies necessary Durand, as this used car salesman was an incredibly shady character, who seems to have gone into hiding since his inauspicious and highly suspect tenure here…Cheers
Thank fu*k no one on here is the manager of Arsenal. Never seen so many inane comments.
Thank fek no one on here is the manager of Arsenal. Never seen so many inane comments.
It appears- I say only “appears,” as we do not not know for certain – that Pepe has not been remotely a trouble maker in our camp.
But that he wishes to leave can only be described as good news The bad news was when he was bought, though most of us did not realise it back then.
By any sober minded, rational judgement , he has been a significant failure and a huge loss and waste of money ,plus his wages.
IT IS KEY THEN, THAT WE RID OURSELVES OF THIS INEFFECTIVE PLAYER FORTHWITH.
Absolutely not a trouble maker jon
Not sure how you have even bought that to the table .
I believe Napoli wanted him and we bid more over the longer term ,I had only seen glimpses of him before we signed him but what I saw excited me and plenty of others if I remember ,unfortunately he did t fit into Emery and now Artetas way of playing ,I bet you if he goes and plys his trade next season in Spain he will hit double figures
Dan, Even if he were to score say ten or fifteen La Liga goals next season, he will still have remained a failure HERE, where it matters to us.
The Spanish league is nowhere near as deeply strong as our Prem. Prem is widely accepted as the hardest, most physical league in Europe and you need power, strength, speed, guts, as well as skill. That is surely why so many foreign players of quality fail to shine in our Prem.
Is that not so?
PS: I never implied or ever thought him a trouble maker. In an odd way , if he had the independence of spirit to be one, he MIGHT, just might, have been of more use to us by being feisty.
As it is, I found him TOO compliant and too keen to accept the status quo.
We need “fighters”, though not thugs like Xhaka!
Hmmm,
So deal that brought him was shady
Emery never wanted him
Decision making and off the ball issues
Apart from wolves, the left wing loses vibrancy everytime Pepe comes on. Who else noticed that?
Yet, Arteta failed him. Interesting.
I hope you all know that Pepe is not a starter for his national team?
I hope you remember his dad once stated that, if only Pepe would keep his head down and focus, he’d be a great player?
Despite these, it’s Arteta’s fault?
I ask you, who should the coach drop to accommodate Pepe?
He had a good Nations cup tournament, yes but he wasn’t one of the best players.
Its time to say goodbye.
Too one footed and more importantly too lightweight to succeed in the Premier League. If you are paying over £70m for a player then these issues should have been spotted by the scouts and the Club’s “Brain’s Trust” prior to any decision to buy him.
What’s more the Manager at the time wanted Zaha as he saw him as an “immediate fix”.He was however told that this couldn’t happen as Zaha wouldn’t have any re-sale value by the time his contract ended…Fairly ironic considering this is frankly the story concerning most forwards Arsenal have bought in recent years.( including Pepe)
On the plus side,however,Pepe’s struggle has allowed for Saha and more latterly ESR and Martinelli to get the right amount of game-time and become better players as a result.
Once again you could also argue that someone in the Club should have told The Brain’s Trust that we had a greater need for other players at this time rather than a left footed right winger given the aspiring youngster we had at Hale End at this time.
Given Pepe’s recent performances and his wages there’s no doubt that he’s going to be difficult to shift and it’s likely that he will be loaned rather than sold.At the same time there’s no doubt that given better man-management and utilisation he could be far more successful playing for another team…most probably in another League.As we all know Arteta is too quick to give up on players who’s initial work ethic doesn’t match his own expectations…and instead of coaxing and nurturing them to improve their strengths and minimise their weaknesses he usually just chooses to jettison them…This is why Arteta will never work in the long term at Arsenal Football Club…Sad but True….Guendouzi,Mavrapanos,AMN,Torreira,Aubamayang and even Saliba are all examples of this particular trait.
Too quick to give up on players…with fans calling for his head everyone and then, where is the time to be coaxing players especially senior and expensive players?
Actually, i think pepe is special player. From his first touch and first few steps after receiving ball, you can see he is good and different. However, he is too inconsistent and keep making wrong decisions.