Under-fire Nicolas Pepe defended by his agent

Samir Khiat claims that Nicolas Pepe has been burdened by the hefty fee paid by Arsenal, before claiming him to have been amongst the club’s biggest creative players at the club.

The 25 year-old has struggled for form this term, with most of his starts coming in the Europa League following the arrival of Willian from Chelsea in the summer.

Pepe did get selected to start in his second Premier League match of the campaign at the weekend however, but has disappointed by getting himself an unnecessary red card for a supposed headbutt off the ball.

His agent insists that while it is normal for high expectations after such a fee is paid for a player, the amount paid has affected him.

“Nicolas did well at Lille. We are always expecting more from Nicolas Pepe which is normal because he has been transferred to Arsenal for a consequent transfer fee,” Khiat told L’Equipe (via the Express).

“When you look at the chances created by Arsenal for the past two seasons, Pepe has been the attacking player who created most of the chances with Aubameyang.

“He is still adapting and he is requested to perform better, which is normal, he has been transferred for an important fee and he knows it.

“Nicolas is not cheating, he is not a cheater. He maybe needs more time to adapt, but it will eventually work well.”

As far as we can see, the agent is yet to comment on his actions which led to the red card, but while Pepe was showing top form towards the end of last season, that player appears to be nowhere to be seen since the new campaign has begun.

How can Pepe’s fee be blamed when he was showing his true talent towards the end of last term, but now he is seemingly not up to the task?

Patrick

Tags Nicolas Pepe Samir Khiat

6 Comments

  1. oh please, he has been with us for more than a year, plenty of time to acclimatize both to the league and to the hefty price we paid for him. and who cared what an agent thinks anyways, you got your money now shut up

  2. While Pepe has nowhere justified even half the pricetag that he has been signed for, calling him a cheat is just narrow mindedness.

    History has shown that many huge name players fail in the other league. The reasons can be many – team tactics, different league, home sickness, psychological impact of a huge tranfer fee, big expectations amongst many. However, “Cheating” is not one of them.

  3. Stuck wide on the right, he will never be successful in the EP L which is far more demanding than the French equivalent.Space and time is what he needs but will never get this side of the Channel .In Pepe, Arteta is faced with a problem for which there does not seem to be a ready solution and which may prove to be yet another poor decision made by well paid members of our recruitment team.What options do we have?Left wing, but Auba has been successful there and Saka is the ultimate left winger if I ever saw one.Centre forward, where Laca is struggling and Nketiah has yet to prove he is the answer? Left sided midfielder, but does he have the stamina, power and football intelligence to do the business in this highly pressurised area?Centre forward is perhaps the best bet for Pepe but I am clutching at straws and at the end of the day I can only hope the sending off proves to be the watershed to galvanize him into action to prove all his critics wrong.As to the sending off, the definition of a head butt seems to have changed since I played the game for it was more like a ” temple nudge” rather than a “Glasgow kiss” which KT will be familiar with.If he deserved to go the Leeds defender should have been booked for simulation and look to the screen to further his acting career.

  4. Gouendouzi got used to the demand of the EPL much quicker than Pepe. Bear in mind that the guy was coming from French league 2. How much time is needed for Pepe to adapt?

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