Nicolas Pepe admits he only wanted to play for Unai Emery, not Arsenal

In partnership with

Just Arsenal News

·27 November 2024

Nicolas Pepe admits he only wanted to play for Unai Emery, not Arsenal

Former Arsenal flop sheds more light on his move to the Gunners.

It might just seem like yesterday when Arsenal broke their transfer record to bring a player in, well I’m not talking about the recent acquisition of Declan Rice but referring to the signing of a player who broke the record four years prior. Nicolas Pepe was a £72million arrival from Lille in the summer of 2019, he was signed off the back of an impressive campaign with Les Dogues where he scored an impressive total of 22 goals while laying on a further 11 assists.

Video OneFootball

His contributions saw Lille finish the 2018/19 campaign second on the log, only missing out on the Ligue 1 title to a very impressive PSG side. This impressive campaign earned him a move to the Gunners, but we all know what transpired from there. The Ivorian just couldn’t cope with the burden of the Transfer fee, he just didn’t fit in and failed to be a superstar despite showing glimpses in his time at the club. He moved on loan to Nice for the 2022/23 season after falling out of favour in the previous campaign, he eventually got his contract terminated in the summer of 2023 before he moved to Trabzonspor on a free transfer. Now the Ivorian is a Villareal player after spending a season in Turkey.

: Nicolas Pepe of Villarreal CF celebrates scoring his team’s first goal with teammate Ilias Akhomach during the LaLiga match between Villarreal CF and UD Las Palmas (Photo by Aitor Alcalde/Getty Images)

He sat down with the Athletic recently where he shed more light about his time at Arsenal and particularly the pressure that came with his huge transfer fee. In the exclusive interview, he said: “When a club pays that much for you, the little details don’t matter, I was young; it was the first time I had left France to play abroad. I had to adapt in lots of ways, but people don’t see that. They only see what happens on the pitch.

“Automatically, the first player to be criticised is the one that cost a lot of money. You have to be getting goals and assists, goals and assists. People expected 30, 35, 40 goals a season. But it was only Messi and Ronaldo who did that.

“Arsenal spent a lot of money on me and I paid the price for it.”

It’s nice to finally get to hear his perspective on things, especially after all the barrage of criticism he was receiving when he was at the club. What we would have been disappointed with in this interview with the Athletic however was the fact that he seemingly conceded he was playing for the manager and not the club. When speaking on how he initially joined the Gunners, he said: “I had a call with Carlo Ancelotti, who was Napoli coach at the time, It lasted five minutes. Half an hour later, I received another call, this time from Unai Emery (Arsenal’s manager at the time). It lasted an hour.

“He told me exactly what he was looking for, everything he would expect from me if I joined Arsenal. He spoke about tactics, what he wanted from me, where he was going to play me, how I could expect to improve under him. Loads of detail. And although he’s not a great French speaker, he spoke to me in French for a whole hour. It was a small thing, but it impressed me. I felt his desire to work with me.”

“That’s why I signed. It wasn’t the club, it was the coach. When someone wants you like that, you go.”

The fact he said he didn’t come because of the club shows why we shouldn’t have signed him in the first place, this shouldn’t be repeated again, if it does then we might find ourselves with another wasted investment!

BENJAMIN

————————————————————–

ADMIN COMMENT

So here are some simple rules which I must insist commenters follow….

You agree not to give any personal abuse to other Arsenal fans. Everyone is allowed to hold their own opinions even if you disagree with them. It COSTS NOTHING TO BE POLITE TO OTHER ARSENAL FANS.

CALLING ALL ARSENAL FANS! Anyone who would like to contribute an Article or Video opinion piece on JustArsenal, please contact us through this link…