Fans saw him as a saviour, but Nicolas Pépé hasn’t proved his worth in two and a half years

It was a surprise when Arsenal shelled out 72 million for Nicolas Pépé two and a half years ago. Although his record through all competitions is not bad, he has scored only fifteen goals in sixty-nine games in the Premier League as a winger.

Arsenal have been very active in the summer transfer period of 2019. It brought William Saliba from Saint-Ettiene for 30 million euros, Kieran Tierney cost 27 million from Celtic. The first purchase was an investment in the future, the Scottish left-back is one of the mainstays of The Gunners after two and a half years, even making vice-captain.

The most expensive acquisition was Nicolas Pépé, for whom Arsenal shelled out 72 million euros. Lille agreed to a payment plan, the money came in four different transfer periods.

Gunners fans were delighted, the Ivory Coast international scored twenty-two league goals and added eleven assists in his last season at Lille. He shone round after round, literally shooting his team to second place in Ligue 1 behind PSG and the Champions League.

Pépé has been a regular in the starting lineup since the start of the new season, but it hasn’t been backed up by performances, but rather weak competition. He waited until the sixth round to score his first league goal, and his first successful game came on 9 December, when he helped turn the game around with a goal and an assist at West Ham (3: 1).

The African winger was plagued by erratic performances. When he had a good game, the next two he walked like a ghost on the pitch, almost looking like he was done for.

Another negative was his lousy right foot. Extreme defenders didn’t have such a problem defending him, as all of Pépé’s danger came from his left foot. As it happens with left-handed players, his left foot was extremely dangerous, but his right foot was only for leaning.

He finished his first season in a red and white jersey with a decent but distorting 8+10 record. In the Premier League, he scored five times and assisted six times, basically it was two hilarious games, the aforementioned with West Ham (1+1) and with Newcastle (1+2).

The second season was better both in terms of performance and numbers. Pépé had a hand in twenty-one goals, scoring sixteen times and assisting five. The spring part of the season was particularly good for him, both in the Premier League and the Europa League.

He came into the season as a substitute, scoring only two goals in the first nineteen rounds of the league and coming into the game mostly from the bench. Aside from his performances, poor behaviour and laziness were also to blame, and he turned fans and Mikel Arteta against each other with a needless sending off against Leeds for a headbutt to Ezgjan Alioski.

But he took advantage of the improving form of the team in the spring. Young Emile Smith-Rowe started to get playing space, which had a positive effect on the whole team. Pépé got a chance and took it. In the Premier League he managed eight goals and one assist in the second half of the season.

The Slavs also understood how quality he is at his best during their journey through the Europa League. He scored for them home and away, and in both cases it was the first goal of the match. Jan Bořil did not keep up with him on the left side of defence, no one else gave him so many problems last season.

Fans were full of anticipation to see if Pépé would carry a good first half of 2021 through the summer transfer window. But the speedy winger failed to get off to a flying start, just like the previous two seasons, and dropped out of the line-up after five league rounds in which Arsenal earned just six points and scored two goals.

The youngsters, on the other hand, seized their chance. Martin Odegaard made his mark, so did Gabriel Martinelli and Alexandre Lacazette was given priority. Pepe basically only played in the Carabao Cup. He did well there, scoring two goals and assisting four times against West Bromwich, Leeds and Sunderland.

The Gunners management is planning to get rid of Pepe, even the player himself is in favour of leaving. In two and a half years in north London, his price has dropped by forty million euros, and he is currently worth 27 million according to Transfermarkt.

Arsenal have set a different path, they have by far the youngest age average starting line-up in the Premier League and Pépé is a bit out of Arteta and co’s plans. A departure would be the best route for both parties, will it happen this winter?

Source: Transfermarkt