Arsenal: £140k-a-week star 'not part of Arteta plans' at the Emirates | OneFootball

Arsenal winger Nicolas Pépé isn't in Mikel Arteta's plans, Sky Sports reporter Dharmesh Sheth has told GIVEMESPORT.

The 27-year-old is currently on loan at Nice, and Sheth thinks Arteta has made it clear that he doesn't have a role for him at the Emirates.

Transfer insider Dean Jones recently told GIVEMESPORT that he can't see any way back for Pépé at Arsenal.

According to L'Equipe, the Ivory Coast international is open to remaining at Nice beyond this season.

Pépé joined the French club after a difficult 2021/22 campaign in north London. As per Transfermarkt, he only managed to make five starts in the Premier League.

He remains Arsenal's record signing, with the Gunners paying Lille £72m to acquire his services back in 2019, as reported by BBC Sport.

Sheth thinks Arteta has already made his mind up on Pépé.

Speaking to GIVEMESPORT, the Sky Sports reporter said: "I don't even think the form of those players [Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli] is going to have an impact at all because I think Mikel Arteta has made it clear that he's not in his plans.

"He wasn't a Mikel Arteta signing, remember. This was a signing made by Unai Emery and Emery has since said he actually wanted to sign Wilfried Zaha, but the club decided that they were going to go for Nicolas Pépé — maybe because of his attributes and maybe because of his age as well."

Should Nicolas Pépé come back to Arsenal?

No, from his perspective it makes little sense. He barely played last season and it would probably be a similar theme next term given the level Saka and Martinelli have now reached.

The two youngsters have been in incredible form during this campaign, with the former scoring 12 goals in the Premier League and the latter 13, as per Transfermarkt.

The Gunners also bought Leandro Trossard from Brighton in the January transfer window, so Pépé would face a lot of strong competition to get into Arteta's side.

With that in mind, it's probably best for the former Lille man, whose Arsenal contract is worth £140,000 a week, according to Spotrac, not to return to north London at the end of the season.