Another Arsenal transfer giveaway as Nicolas Pepe joins Trabzonspor | OneFootball

Nicolas Pepe joins Trabzonspor by Dan Smith

There is often a divide in our fanbase.

Some feel that the definition of any supporter is you must say everything about your club is amazing and that zero criticism is allowed.

There can of course be middle ground.

It is possible to acknowledge the improvement Arsenal made last season, both as a team and as individuals.

Arteta has many strengths, but that does not mean he’s immune from it being highlighted when he makes mistakes.

Our manager talks about his ‘ non-negotiable ‘ principles but those principles continue to cost us money.

Rumours range that Pepe was allowed to leave for free to Trabzonspor or that if we did receive a fee, it was a very small one.

That’s a huge loss on the 72 million we gave Lille in 2019.

The winger had long failed to justify what at the time was the most in our history we spent on anyone. Yet in a market where average talent can be valued at 40 million, Pepe isn’t so bad he warrants essentially being given away.

Yet suitors knew they could get the attacker for nothing because our manager in the last year hasn’t even pretended the 28-year-old has a future in North London.

The Spaniard refuses to wear a poker face, essentially walking around with a sign saying, ‘for free’.

Do these ‘non negotiables’ include making someone train in isolation without even a shirt number?

We will probably hear how the Ivorian didn’t suit his boss’ ethos. That would be believable if this were a rare occurrence.

Yet Ozil, Aubameyang, Lacazette, Luiz, Mustafi, Kolasinac, Mustafi, Willian, Niles …. the list goes on.

How many players have left for nothing?

Pepe was the last remaining player who started the 2020 FA Cup Final (Tierney is on loan), the last trophy we won.

Out of that starting 11, 5 (could be 6) left for nothing, only 4 we got any money for (and we are talking 4 million for Holding and possibly 3 for Pepe).

I have long said that the Kroenke Family should have made it part of the job specification to get the best out of the resources he inherited.

A rookie boss at the time now thinks it’s standard to just wash your hands and give up on assets.

It’s a business model which has cost us millions and which one agent claimed makes us a laughing stock in the industry.

Look how much talent Chelsea wanted to offload this summer and look at the prices they got.

Man City just got over 40 million for a player yet to score in the League.

They do that by holding cards close to their chest.

If Arteta had even pretended Pepe could have a role in the team (I maintain he’s just as good as a Nketiah or Nelson), it would have increased the chance of a larger sum.

If you own lots of cars and have a history of selling them on the cheap when you get impatient, buyers have no indication to make you a crazy offer if they know you will end up giving the item away.

Arsenal won 14 FA Cups in our history.

Pepe contributed to one of them.

No one can take that away from him.

Good luck to Pepe in Turkey.

Dan