Charles Watts says Nicolas Pepe’s time is up at Arsenal after Mikel Arteta explained that he isn’t part of the club’s pre-season tour of America because of an injury.
The 28-year-old was on-loan at Nice last season and Mikel Arteta even seemed to take potshots at that because he explained that he ‘wanted more’ from the winger, as he told the club’s official website.
All of this doesn’t look good on Nicolas Pepe, as Arsenal expert Watts added that the whole situation is ‘odd’ and he ‘doesn’t have a future’ in London, as he posted on his own YouTube channel.
There was talk about a possible move to the ever-growing Pro League of Saudi Arabia – but that has since collapsed.
With his loan spell not going the way Arteta wanted, left out of the USA tour and now these reports about a move to Saudi collapsing, it puts Pepe in a difficult situation.
Watts shared that, as of this moment, there are ‘no offers’ on the table for a player that was once Arsenal’s club-record transfer, before Declan Rice smashed it out of the park this summer.
“Nicolas Pepe, we haven’t seen anything of him this summer,” said Watts. “He hasn’t even been back to Arsenal yet. I thought it was quite interesting what Mikel said.
“I look at this and think ‘something just doesn’t sit right’. I think ‘why isn’t he at Arsenal, even if he is just recovering from an injury?’ Surely, you would want him with the club doctors. It doesn’t make sense. Why would he still be away all the time?
“If you have been away all summer, and you are still recovering from injury, then you want to go back to the club that is paying your wages or the club that is paying your wages want you to be there, so they can keep an eye on you. They can monitor your progress coming back from this injury.
“It kind of feels like manager talk – it feels a bit off. Other players have been injured this summer and they have been at Arsenal working on their recovery. I just can’t see any future for Nicolas Pepe at Arsenal this summer. What will be going on behind the scenes is to find some sort of solution to his situation. There are no offers on the table. The links to Sauid seem to have fallen through – it feels odd.”
Pepe only has himself to blame
The issue facing the £140k-a-week star (Spotrac) is that he is on a small list and that’s on a small list of players that haven’t worked out under Arteta.
From Bukayo Saka to Granit Xhaka, those who Arteta worked with over a significant period of time showcased their true worth and took their levels up.
No more so than Saka out on that right channel, whilst Pepe struggled and proved that he is nowhere near the level of the England star and he only has himself to blame given his struggles since his big-money move.
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