Journalist Charles Watts has claimed that Arsenal winger Nicolas Pepe has no future at the club despite his decent form on loan of late.
The Ivorian has spent the season in France so far, playing Ligue 1 for Nice. He has impressed too with six goals and one assist in 18 games across all competitions.
With that in mind, some fans may well feel as though there is a chance that Pepe could return to Arsenal next season after his loan expires, in the hope of giving it another go in England.
However, while talking about the player on his own YouTube channel, Watts seemed pretty dominant that the Gunners will just have to ‘cut their losses’ and sell the player.
Indeed, he said (3:00): “Arsenal just need to find a way of selling him at the end this season, need to cut the losses. Look, they’re not going to get much money for Pepe, it’s clear.
“At the end of this year, he’s only going to have a year left on his deal. They’ve got the wages that they need to try and sort out, so any club who are going to be coming in for him are going to have the issue of trying to take on the wages that he wants.
“So Arsenal, I imagine, are going to have to do some pretty clever negotiating to get him off the books, but there is no future for Nicolas Pepe at Arsenal”.
TIF thoughts on Nicolas Pepe and Arsenal…
Pepe moved to Arsenal from Lille for a club-record £72m fee back in 2019 but never lived up to his full potential. He scored 27 goals in 112 outings but this clearly wasn’t enough to convince manager Mikel Arteta.
Back in France, the Ivorian does seem to be better suited to Ligue 1 football and has shown glimpses of the quality that earned him his big-money move in the first place. Notably, he caught the eye in a 3-2 league win over Troyes when he scored and picked an assist.
Despite this, Watts clearly feels as if it’s best Pepe moves on. Seeing as Arsenal are doing so well in the Premier League, it’s not as if they need him. However, it does remain unclear as to who exactly will be willing to pay his wages, plus a transfer fee, if that’s what it takes to lift him from north London.
Will Nicolas Pepe ever play for Arsenal again?
Yes
No
