Nicolas Pepe has spoken out about the fierce criticism he endured after failing to live up to the £72m price tag that he ‘didn’t ask for’ when he moved from Lille in 2019.
The winger spent four years at Arsenal and had a decent enough time of it on paper with 27 goals and 21 assists in 112 appearances, but his monstrous transfer fee had set expectations sky high, leading to criticism from ‘the media and certain people at the club’.
Pepe says the jabs taken at him – which was fed back to him by family members – almost led him to jack in football altogether, describing it in an interview with the French media as a ‘trauma’.
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Nicolas Pepe considered quitting after Arsenal ‘trauma’
Pepe told L’Equipe: “It was almost harassment. I don’t look at social media much…but if my brother told me ‘this is what they said about you’, it would affect me unconsciously.
“It also came from the media and from certain members of the club. They don’t realise that it can affect your mental state, your family, and it affects performance. The only people who have always supported me are the Arsenal fans.
“At Arsenal, I suffered a kind of trauma, as if my passion had been ripped away from me. Football disgusted me. I doubted myself to the point that I thought about quitting everything.
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Nicolas Pepe came on Arsenal’s radar after his success at Lille
“I wondered how they could have been so relentless in their attacks on me. They even called me the biggest flop in the history of the Premier League – but I refused to mope.”
Pepe is now a free agent again after a season in Turkey with Trabzonspor, and is reportedly keen to keep an offer from Saudi Arabia on the back burner while he looks for a European club.
The Ivory Coast international made 23 appearances in league and cup competition last season, claiming six goals and three assists along the way.
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