Mikel Arteta said he was surprised by one of Nicolas Pepe’s actions, but the Arsenal player denied that the Ivorian didn’t think he was good enough.
Pepe was acquired by the Gunners in 2019 from Lille for a club-record £72 million (BBC). He was expected to lead the team to a completely new level, but he simply fell short of expectations.
Pepe spent the previous season on loan at Nice in France, but he will soon be coming back to Arsenal. The following is what he said about Arteta in his interview with Colinterview.
After Arsenal’s decision on Mikel Arteta, Nicolas Pepe claims to have gone insane.
Nicolas Pepe can terrorize opposing defenders on his best days, but he hardly ever did it while wearing an Arsenal jersey.
The Ivorian is incredibly skilled with the ball. His dribbling is on par with everyone else’s, he moves quickly, and when he uses his left foot correctly, it can be devastating.
Pepe, however, simply didn’t perform well enough to merit the astronomical price Arsenal paid for him. The fact that Arteta allowed the £140,000-per-week (Spotrac) player to depart on loan implied that he didn’t care for him, but the winger insists it is wholly untrue.
People claim that he saw me as a player who wasn’t good enough for his team or his ideology. It’s totally false,” Pepe said.
“When he spoke to me, he said he counted on me and that you need to concentrate on that because he wanted you to achieve this or that. He made me better in every aspect. I constantly watched films with his assistants while he spoke to me the entire time. He had a lot of faith in me. We must tap into the enormous potential he claimed I possessed.
Pepe claims that Arteta’s choice to use Willian before him surprised and drove him insane.
“At the end of the first season, he spoke with me and instructed me to do this or that,” he added. When the second season arrived, I filled in. Going crazy, I was. He claimed he relied on me, so how could I fill in? Your mind is buzzing with everything.
“I filled in for [what felt like] 10 games. At that time, they acquired Willian. He is a winger or a number 10. But he plays the wing for something like 11 or 12 consecutive games. Knowing that I had spoken with the coach and that it wasn’t like way, I turned my head.
Pepe, however, is not hostile. He was still full of praise for Arteta’s significant contributions to his improvement. Check out the rest of his GFFN comments.