Speaking to the Design Museum to celebrate the launch of its new exhibition, Football: Designing the Beautiful Game, Ray Parlour has been chatting Nicolas Pepe and his Arsenal future.
The Ivorian may be the London club’s record signing, but he’s fallen out of favour in recent months as the likes of Gabriel Martinelli, Emile Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka continue to establish themselves in the XI.
With Pepe starting just five Premier League games this season and scoring just one goal, the winger’s future has been called into question, and Parlour believes that Mikel Arteta could think about selling Pepe.
What’s been said?
Parlour gave his verdict on Pepe.
“Nicolas Pepe can be a frustrating player because he blows hot and cold. He’s capable of incredible things, but then he has a more limited impact for a few games. Pepe occasionally provides moments of magic which shows why Arsenal chose to spend big money on him, but as things stand you can’t rely on him to fire you to trophies because he lacks the consistency you need at the top level,” Parlour said.
“I think he can be a threat when he has the ball at his feet, but it’s his movement when he doesn’t have the ball that could improve if he’s going to be a more important weapon for Arsenal. Mikel Arteta may consider looking to move him on this summer, but you’d assume that would be at a big loss on the investment that the club made in him and they’d need to sign a replacement as well. It might depend on if Arsenal qualify for the Champions League and if we need a bigger squad or not but he could most certainly stay.”
Massive loss
If Arsenal choose to sell Pepe this summer, they’ll surely be making a huge loss.
The winger cost a mammoth £72m back in 2019, but after three incredibly disappointing seasons, Arsenal would be lucky to even get half that amount for Pepe this summer.
The fact that he’s fallen behind three youngsters in the pecking order tells you all you need to know, Pepe is, quite simply, not a £72m footballer.
Arsenal may have to cut their losses this summer, and make no mistake about it, they will make a big loss.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
