Thierry must be feeling like a prophet after watching Nicolas Pepe’s first campaign at the Emirates.
When Arsenal splashed the cash on the former Lille winger in the summer, Henry warned fans not to expect too much from the Ivorian.
Some heeded that advice, but many didn’t and that has made Pepe one of the most divisive players in the current Arsenal team.
The Ivorian that did so well for Lille last season and helped them reach the group stages of the Champions League but has found life tough in the Premier League so far.
He has been involved in 24 league games in his first campaign and that has returned four goals and six assists.
For fans who listened to Henry earlier, those numbers won’t surprise them but for other fans that expected much more from him, they will be disappointed with his return so far.
Henry had warned fans not to blame him for his price tag and also insisted that the Premier League wasn’t easy to get used to if you’re coming from another league.
He said earlier as quoted by the star: “When you arrive like that, you’re always going to be talked about, and people are always going to target you,
“He needs to make sure he doesn’t listen to that and go out and perform. People need to forget about the price tag. He didn’t ask to be bought for that amount of money himself.
“It’s not always easy to arrive in a team, adapt to a new style of play. The Premier League, as we know, is not the same as the French League or any other league, by the way. So he needs to adapt to that. We need to give him time.”
High scoring forwards and wingers who arrive from other leagues; Spain, Germany, France, nearly always see their goal tallies drop by somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2. In the Premier League, every team is capable of beating any other (ask Liverpool) and teams who are down by two at the half keep fighting instead of lying down like dogs and getting whipped 4-0 or worse. That makes the cheap goals that pad statistics in other leagues harder to come by.
Diego Costa 2013/14 – 36 goals all comps- Spain
Diego Costa 2014/15 – 20 goals, all comps – England
He is typical. There are players, like Sergio Aguero and Thierry Henry who scored more in the PL than elsewhere, but established stars who make the move usually see their goal tallies suffer.
For players earning a big wage, it can be tough.
Pepe was always gonna struggle this season, he was not physically and mentally ready to deal with the pace and aggression of the epl and the ref leniency.
Less time to analyse the situation whether to dribble, shoot or pass was always going to affect his stats but he CAN still dribble around multiple defenders. That he has retain his dribbling ability gives me confidence that he will eventually adapt and be more productive.