If there’s one word that sums up Arsenal winger Nicolas Pepe, it’s ‘divisive’.
The France-born star has only been a Gunner for a little over a year but already he has divided opinion among fans of the North London club.
Pepe cost Arsenal a club-record £72 million in the summer of 2019 and the 25-year-old has so far produced 11 goals and 12 assists in 54 games across all competitions.
Considering he isn’t a number nine, it isn’t a horrible record but, when you cost £72 million, it isn’t a stellar one either.
As we said, divisive, and just as there’s quite a few Arsenal supporters who aren’t convinced by the Ivory Coast international, there’s many more who are backing him to the hills.
But it looks like he doesn’t exclusively divide opinion among those who follow the Emirates Stadium club.
Pepe played 80 minutes of Ivory Coast’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifier win over Madagascar last night – and also produced an assist.
But setting up a goal doesn’t tell the full story on a night where the former Lille winger struggled in some other areas – like passing and decision making, really.
It was a very mixed bag for the Arsenal star and, as a result, a lot of the reaction from social media is mixed too.
Considering he has only started one of Mikel Arteta’s eight Premier League games as Gunners boss this season, you could argue that the Spaniard is yet to be convinced by him either.
But in terms of potential, Pepe remains such an exciting player and if it clicks for him, it’ll click in a big way and it could win back some of the support he has lost.
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