From costing 80 million to playing 12 minutes in two months

In the 2019 summer transfer market, Arsenal put € 80M on the Lille table to win Nicolas Pépé. Although the figures that the Ivorian striker manages a little more than two seasons after his arrival are not the worst – 25 goals and 18 assists in 99 games with the Gunners -, the lack of regularity in his performance and the poor start of the 2021 course / 2022 have once again questioned his signing. Although Pépé arrived in London at a star price, it has performed as such. After offering a high level during a good stretch of last season, in which he emerged as one of Arsenal’s offensive keys despite the bad year that the London team had in the Premier League, the irruption of players like Bukayo Saka, the arrival of Martin Odegaard and the loss of opportunities have ended up dynamiting what seemed to be his establishment in the club.

A gold-priced substitute in a complicated situation that Arteta tried to explainr. “A lot of players are not having enough minutes. With the games we have now, there is no room for everyone. Something similar happens with Nico. You need more opportunities to demonstrate but you haven’t had them. I try to make the decisions regarding what I see on a day-to-day basis and, to be fairNico is trying and wants to help the team. “ So far in 2021/2022, Pépé has played 8 Premier League matches and 2 Carabao Cup matches, in which he has scored 1 goal and distributed 3 assists. And it is that, to the fact of having participated in less than half of the league matches played to date (17), it is added that, of those 8 matches, he was a starter in 5.

“The reality is that in his position, Bukayo (Saka) is playing regularly and in a fantastic way. It is not being easy for him to find minutes “, concluded the Spanish coach of Arsenal. The irruptions and settlements of the English attacker and Emile Smith Rowe have done the Gunner team a lot of good, but a disservice to the Ivorian footballer. Although he started playing, Nicolas Pépé has lost importance as the season progresses. In the Premier League he has not been a starter since October and came to accumulate substitutions from matchday 11 to 15.

Since then he has almost disappeared in the Premier, adding five minutes against Leicester prior to this streak and just seven against Southampton to put an end to it. Against West Ham he did not appear on the Emirates green and in the match against Leeds this Saturday (6:30 pm) It remains to be seen if Arteta gives him any of the coveted opportunities. In the barely 669 minutes added between the Premier League and Carabao Cup, Pépé has managed to score a goal and give three assists. One of them was decisive in the 1-0 against Norwich of the already distant day 4 of Premier.