If Nicolas Pepe had any hope of kick-starting his Arsenal career on the back of a loan spell back in Ligue 1, the events of the last 48 hours feel like another couple of nails hammered into the Ivorian’s Emirates Stadium coffin.
Reiss Nelson, a player Arsenal opted to retain while farming Pepe out to Nice, marked the rarest of opportunities with his first Premier League goal in 837 days during Sunday’s 5-0 thrashing of Nottingham Forest. Three minutes later, he repeated the trick.
Mikel Arteta lost faith in Pepe after a series of anonymous and underwhelming performances in North London. But while Nelson has hardly been a regular fixture in the Gunners XI in recent years, there was never any suggestion that Arteta was ready to give up on him too.
“After the spell that he had last year on loan (at Feyenoord), we wanted him back to see if there are any changes,” Arteta said a couple of weeks ago; his faith in the Hale End graduatae now well-and-truly justified as Nelson stepped brilliantly into Bukayo Saka’s shoes vs Forest.
“There’s a prospect that we can really take to the next level. We think the potential is there and we think we’ve seen something in Reiss that is special.”
Does Nicolas Pepe still have a future at Arsenal?
While Nelson may lack Pepe’s raw talent, you could never question the 22-year-old’s hunger and desire. The head-strong Arteta has shown since taking over from Unai Emery that he is more-than willing to move on from gifted footballers who just don’t fit his approach so, with that in mind, it maybe should not come as a surprise that Arsenal chose to keep Nelson and ship out the languid Pepe.
The former Lille winger, still Arsenal’s £72 million record signing, has five goals in 15 games since joining Aaron Ramsey, Kasper Schmeichel, Ross Barkley and co at Nice. The re-emergence of Nelson however, coupled with Arsenal’s interest in two exciting young forwards on both sides of the Atlantic, give the impression that Pepe’s performances across the Channel are likely to count for very little in the long run.
Gustav Isaksen, the £17 million-rated Denmark U21 international going from strength-to-strength at Midtjylland, is one such name on Arsenal’s radar (Calciomercato). FCM director Claus Steinlein admits that Isaksen ‘will be sold’ in 2023. According to the Standard, Orlando City’s £7 million Uruguay international Facundo Torres is another, the Gunners looking to ease the burden on the overworked Saka.
Torres, like Nelson, Isaksen and the aforementioned Saka, is lively, quick-footed and capable of thriving on either wing. Exuberant, energetic and productive. Three attributes that did not go hand in hand with Nicolas Pepe during his time in the English capital.
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