Nicolas Pepe could make shock Premier League return as Arsenal’s rivals eye summer transfer

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Nicolas Pepe’s time at Arsenal wasn’t memorable.

The Ivory Coast international became the Gunners’ record signing in the summer of 2019. Pepe was brought in for an eye-watering £72 million after Unai Emery failed to land Wilfried Zaha.

A lot was expected of the attacker at the Emirates, and his price tag increased the pressure on his shoulders. That affected his performances in the famous red and white.

After failing to become a regular under Mikel Arteta, Pepe was sent out on loan to OGC Nice in France and was then released in the following summer.

He has now found his feet again and is attracting interest.

Two Premier League clubs eye move for former Arsenal star Nicolas Pepe

Nicolas Pepe joined Trabzonspor in Turkey after his contract was terminated by Arsenal.

The Ivorian didn’t even last a year there. He scored six goals and provided three assists in 24 games and was shown the door at the end of the campaign.

Then, at the start of this season, Pepe joined Villarreal on a permanent deal, and that move has helped resurrect his career.

A muscle injury caused problems midway through the season, but Pepe has slowly built his fitness up since, and against Osasuna this week, he scored a goal and provided two assists.

That has alerted several clubs about his quality, with FootMercato claiming that Premier League sides Everton and Wolverhampton Wanderers are keeping an eye on him ahead of the summer window.

Clubs in Saudi Arabia are also interested in Pepe, who will enter the final year of his contract this summer. Villarreal, however, want to keep Pepe and extend his deal.

The report claims that a good end to the season could lead to offers from interested clubs to sign Pepe this summer.

The four reasons why Nicolas Pepe failed at Arsenal

It is a real shame that things did not work out for Pepe at Arsenal.

The winger had all the qualities to succeed at the top level, and his performances for Lille in his final season there proved that.

But, at Arsenal, he just couldn’t deliver, and we think there are four reasons why:

• Price tag: Everyone wanted Pepe to hit the ground running after Arsenal paid so much money to sign him. The pressure of his price tag weighed heavily on his shoulders, and that made his life really difficult.
• Game time: Pepe made 112 appearances for Arsenal, but just 67 of those came from the start. Under Arteta, the maximum number of games he started consecutively in the Premier League was four – he had no continuity. That hurt him.
• Consistency: Pepe showed flashes of his brilliance throughout his time at Arsenal and scored a few sensational goals as well. But, he just couldn’t do it on a consistent basis, and that led to his downfall.
• Bukayo Saka: Pepe probably would’ve had more chances at Arsenal if he didn’t have a like-for-like player competing in his position. Unfortunately for him, Bukayo Saka emerged and pushed him out of the side. There was no way back for him after that.

The Ivory Coast attacker will sadly be viewed as a flop by many at Arsenal, but we must say that Pepe was far better than the likes of Mykhaylo Mudryk, Antony and Jadon Sancho.

Yet, he received more criticism than all of the above combined, which is really unfair.