The only ones who bring up his transfer fee are his fans.
Lets not rewrite history that and make out that ESR and Ødegaard were crap, Ødegaard had a few weeks to settle and showed what he could do after that. And is showing it morseo this season.
Pepe consistently loses the ball or plays safe passes or gets a goal once every 3 matches or so after many many attempts to get in to the perfect position to take his shot.
You sound a bit hypocritical and add patronising to the list as well.
Are you implying the only way to be objective is to agree with your opinions...
He's been pretty awful with a very small amount of good performances since he arrived here. He is only threatening with the ball in very specific circumstances and very poor outside it... which you cannot afford in a team that wants champions league.
Since hes been dropped and his minutes given to other players they have come on leaps and bounds. He is probably amongst the most played players since Arteta arrived and he never seemed to go beyond the incomplete, one trick pony he arrived as, he has stagnated because he has a low ceiling... which becomes clear when you see the far younger players who are already far better than him.
You're the one who's rewriting history by attempting to make it appear that Pepe has been crap when he has been fairly above average performer during his tenure. His goals, assist and chance creation since being in the team far exceeds his team mates bar everyone who plays in his position except Saka who has played LB/LW/RCM/LCM/RW and who's had more appearances over the same time period.
You claim the others have come leaps and bounds above him yet Pepe has had more goals and assist than them all. He's been doing it from the bench more often than the other players in the team. Of his 69 appearances in the league only 43 have been starts over the three seasons. Contrast this with Saka for example who has played in 78 games during that same time and starting 67 of those games.
You claim he's been awful yet his goal involvement far exceeds most of the other players as well. It is obvious you are not actually watching him play but rather just hating on the player.
You believe the young players are better than him and I disagree, there are differences in style and approaches to games. Saka, ESR for example are academy players who have been groomed to fit into a certain manicured style of playing that is pervasive in european football. Pepe is a street footballer and his style is at odds with the football that most european fans have become accustomed to.
However with a manager who understands how to use him Pepe can become a lethal goal scoring winger, unfortunately, Arteta doesn't know how best to use Pepe. No fault of either of these men. Arteta has his philosophy and Pepe has his style of play, they dont work well together but thats how it goes sometimes.
What i have an issue with is people like you coming on here making it seem like he's a **** footballer when he isn't. Then again you are entitled to your opinion for the little that its worth.