Arteta admits one of his Arsenal players is very unpredictable

Follow us on Google Discover

Mikel Arteta has described Arsenal winger Nicolas Pepe as a ‘special player’.

There is big pressure on the 25-year-old to enjoy a much stronger and more consistent second season in North London after joining for a club-record £72 million in the summer of 2019.

But there’s a long way to go before Pepe is living up to his potential at Arsenal.

In fact, the former Lille attacker isn’t even making Arteta’s first XI on a regular basis after starting just one of their six Premier League matches so far this season.

Nevertheless, the Spanish coach says that Pepe – who scored in the Europa League win over Dundalk on Thursday – has handled the burden of being the club’s most-expensive ever player pretty well, but urges him to be more consistent in his output.

He told the club’s official website: “He needed some time. It’s not easy when the club makes the investment that they made on him, the expectations are high.

“He’s handled the situation really well, he’s better adapted and he’s a player that is unpredictable, that has something special. It’s just about doing it in a consistent way.”

Arteta clearly has very high standards at Arsenal.

We know this because he has just left a World Cup winner in the form of Mesut Ozil out of his Premier League squad.

In terms of profile and talent, Ozil is a few levels above Pepe and if the Ivory Coast international doesn’t pull his weight in training, there simply won’t be more chances in the first XI.