✍️ OFFICIAL Nicolas Pepe (Out)

[lomekian]

Jeeze I guess ESR also had a meh season as well, despite it being his most productive.

ESR had a brilliant first half of the season but was rubbish from late February (by which time his form/fitness had already tailed off). But like Martinell, notably younger than Pepe and produced greater output in less minutes (and some of those minutes in CM).

 

[lomekian]

Pepe was always an end product machine, he didn't suit what Emery and Arteta tried to do and Saka is clearly the better player, fair enough.

Everyone at Arsenal says the lad is humble and works hard, but somehow he gets some stick a lá Auba.

Hopefully we get some money and he moves on and restarts somewhere better for him, while Arsenal get a player more suited for what we want to do.

I wasn't aware anyone criticised his attitude - if he was a bell-end, Arteta would have fired him out of a cannon given how frustrating he finds him to manage!

 

[Yousif Arsenal]

Arteta said after we come back from the tour the club will hold discussions with players that need to leave or will have no minutes to play. So we'll see if pepe among the group or not.

No only pepe guys like Nelson And AMN attracting zero interest

 

[lomekian]

As far as I'm concerned with the situation. Part of it's on Arteta, part of it is on the player.

The most pivotal thing for me is, buy players that fit the system / style you want to play. Make sure the person buying the players is on the same page as the manager who's going to use him. That didn't happen with Pepe and hasn't done anyone any good.

It's not even about Pepe being a good player or not really. He just doesn't fit the way we want to play.

Pepe's clearly got enough talent to thrive in a situation that suits him - one that doesn't require much interplay or defensive contribution, and preferably in a league less relentlessly intense than the EPL (or in a more dominant team).

He's a truly brilliant finisher when on form (probably the best at the club), so a club that can free him to only need to be active in the final third will be a lot happier. Its why I made the comparison with Theo (though Pepe clearly the more gifted player). Two guys who are not great bets in the middle third (different reasons) and suspect defensively (Pepe better), but in the right situation in the final third can be decisive. I just wish Pepe had learned to simplify his game a touch and play quicker in terms of passing interplay, because that would make such a difference in the final and middle thirds.

 

[Sharay]

Hope he leaves. He will only be used for Europa league games

 

[lomekian]

Raul obviously wealing and dealing like prime debt ridden Barca signing anyone with a name.

Pepe was mostly a Wenger player and Emery and Arteta both are not the type of manager he needs.

Think he'd do well with someone like Carlo.

Wenger must have been a joy to play for. Always set up his team to maximise the individuals (sometimes, especially in latter years, at the expense of team results). One reason why not many did as well after leaving for any sustained period. However, unless you have elite players, that approach doesn't fly any more at the top level because there are a lot more great coaches around.

As for doing well with Carlo - it would depend which team! He couldn't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear at Everton, but give him some elite level winners like at Madrid...I reckon Pepe would rack up the stats under Carlo but get dropped for the biggest matches - his use of Valverde in ECL being a pointer for me.

Pepe was an ego signing - had he been £40m he would have been worth the punt because the potential was clearly there to go supernova, but a bad fit, and the player hasn't been able to adjust his game.

 

[lomekian]

Agree with this mostly, but the last part of me reminded me of something I ready yesterday. It's funny to me though to see some people (don't remember who specifically) talk positively and excitedly about Martinelli becoming a player who shouldn't be bothered with buildup and just focus on getting on the end of passes and score.

Here I am thinking that that was what people saw as Pepe's issue. That he wasn't able to be part of the buildup enough.

Oh well.

Martinelli absolute should be involved in build up. He's a pretty good passer and has a boatload of fight. Still does things too much at 100mph sometimes, but I don't see him being end product only as the best use of his qualities.

 

[lomekian]

Newcastle would be a great move with Saint Max the other side & the midfielders they have inbetween... the Lille set up with Bamba / Ikone / Pepe behind the striker was very attacker friendly

in my time watching Arsenal just seems the fan base much prefer wide midfielders, inside forwards & utility wide players to wingers

What real wingers have we had? Not so many. Does Overmars count? Pires? I'm genuinely not sure, but have we played tactics that suit genuine wingers?

 

[lomekian]

View attachment 8022

Well, given the lack of suitors, if he's willing to be fully bought in and part of the group, that's as good as an outcome as we can plausibly hope for at this stage. Seems like a nice lad, bit introverted, and flawed though he is, we all know there is talent there. I don't see it as likely, but I'd be delighted if a few pennies have dropped to the point of consistent implementation about what he needs to do to have a bigger impact and be a safer selection. If he could match is G+A to minutes ratio from 20-21 but be less of a liability when off form, that would be a big win.

And if we do want him gone, it doesn't hurt our cause if he's not lifting his skirts a la Torreira.

 

[NieThePiet]

The market for new right wingers is dead, there isn't a single one possible who would convince me or who is clearly better than Pepe.

Pepe will get more games due to EL next season, hopefully he can perform there and more clubs will be interested next summer.

 

[lomekian]

With your jungle footballer comments and regurgitating the most cliche, lazy, ignorant football takes repeatedly you are far from qualified to mention anything about intellectual deficiencies. I think you're a complete tw*t tbh and took you off ignore to make sure you knew.

Feeling's mutual sweetheart , though I wasn't ignoring you in the hope you might one day write something interesting. To be fair this is one of your better efforts.

 

[El Duderino]

1) He played the equivalent of 2 less matches and had one more goal contribution.
2) He was 20 at the start of the season as opposed to Pepe at 24 for the equivalent season.
3) His defensive work rate and effectiveness vastly outstrips that of Pepe's first season for us.

Taking these things into account, Martinelli had an impressive season for a player of his age, but were he a senior player his return would be ok at best for a team chasing CL football.

As a comparison, Alex Iwobi had 10 G+A in the EPL the season before we sold him in the summer, in less minutes than Pepe (so almost the same G+A to time ratio) but more than Martinelli.

Did anyone say Iwobi was Stellar that year?

Now that Martinelli is on the table you have time to move on from just 11 g/a in the PL to "he's young and had one less game and one more contribution". Now you've added defensive contributions.

24 is pretty young for a footballer, even if AM has an ageist tendency.

You dislike Pepe, fine, nothing wrong with that, but if you're holding his first season to those standards, they should be used to other players you fancy more.

 

[El Duderino]

This is going the way of the Saliba thread and there are no current links.

I'll close this and discussions can be resumed on the Pepe thread.

Will open it up once he eventually gets linked with a move away.

 

[A_G]

 

[Taurul]

L'OGC Nice tente le coup Nicolas Pépé !

En quête d'un gros coup pour son secteur offensif, l'OGC Nice a jeté son dévolu sur Nicolas Pépé. L'Ivoirien d'Arsenal est intéressé et pourrait (...) - Footmercato

www.footmercato.net

 

[grange]

Alright, that's a start.

 

[boonthegoon]

Nice

 

[boonthegoon]

But loan is bad given that he'll return with a year left. Looks like we can't even recoup 25M in that case.

 

[Hunta]

Tavares, Balogun and Pepe tearing up ligue UH

 

[field442]

But loan is bad given that he'll return with a year left. Looks like we can't even recoup 25M in that case.

A loan and him playing well is the only way we recoup anything.