According to Football London, Nicolas Pepe is now seen as dispensable by Arsenal, and he could be sold in January.
Mikel Arteta and Edu could decide to sell Pepe in January, and if he is to leave the club in the winter window, he may be cemented as Arsenal’s worst signing in history.
Of course, this is an opinion that will divide opinion, and while we don’t think Pepe is the worst player to ever play for Arsenal, in terms of value for money, not many compete.
A £72m fee makes Pepe the 25th most expensive footballer of all time and Arsenal’s record signing, but it’s impossible to make a case for him providing any sort of value for that outlay.
In fact, the value was so poor that the Gunners reportedly even held an internal investigation around how such a fee was even paid for the winger.
He’s scored just 16 league goals in two and a half seasons in north London, and while we’ve seen many attackers bring about a worse return at Arsenal, the fact that he’d been signed off the back of a 22-goal Ligue 1 haul with Lille, just shows how much he has underperformed.
As we say, Pepe is far from the worst player to ever turn out for this club. He’s been described as ‘decent’ in the past, and Arsenal have employed the likes of Yaya Sanogo, a striker who scored just one goal in four years at the club, but, at least he was a free transfer.
Pepe joined for massive money with massive expectations and a clear task – score and create goals, but now, just a couple of years on from his arrival, he’s set to be put on the scrapheap, and he can’t even get into the team ahead of three players who cost a combined £6m, Gabriel Martinell, Emile Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka.
We hate to write any player off, and of course, if Pepe isn’t sold in January he may be able to turn things around.
However, if Edu does decide to accept a bid and sell Pepe next month, his place as the club’s worst-ever signing may well be cemented.
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