✍️ OFFICIAL Nicolas Pepe (Out)

[Rasmi]

He was injured, was decent for the rest but definitely not like he was with us. Was done with football after 2021 when Arteta fooled him with Willian and benched him for no reason. We'll see if he does the same with Havertz who was way worse in the PL than Pepe

Yeah, this one can definitely be pinned on Arteta

Havertz is doing a lot of unseen work lol. Tbh havertz is his guy and he will be determined to prove people right. I feel for guys like esr and vieira because there is no way they are competing with havertz on equal footing

 

[Yousif Arsenal]

Had better PL career than sancho and Antony combined we were all excited when we bought him but he never suited possession based football in open spaces he'd be elite.

Good luck in Turkey.

 

[UpTheGunnerz]

View attachment 18342

Why’s bro so happy?

Cause turkey is a lovely, beautiful, culturally reach, splendid weather, cat friendly, tea exquisite, coffee expertise country?

 

[A_G]

Cause turkey is a lovely, beautiful, culturally reach, splendid weather, cat friendly, tea exquisite, coffee expertise country?

 

[Sparrahork]

He was injured, was decent for the rest but definitely not like he was with us. Was done with football after 2021 when Arteta fooled him with Willian and benched him for no reason. We'll see if he does the same with Havertz who was way worse in the PL than Pepe

Yeah, this one can definitely be pinned on Arteta

I think Pepe was pre tets and edu as I recall? I agree signing Willian destroyed him, and Reiss to some extent. You have to hope as well they would be aware of Saka coming through and his best position. If Pepe had the confidence of his manager he may have kicked on in his second season like so many others have.

I remain torn on havertz, I think he will be a good squad player in a Bernardo Silva sense of covering several roles and not being 100% sure what his best one is, or if he features in our strongest side. I think if considered that way he will be a plus for the club.

I remain concerned he was bought primarily to play 8, also that the transfer fee almost demands his inclusion from the off. Had we negotiated £40m and labelled him another trossard there would not be this anti-kai feeling.

I hope havertz succeeds, if he doesn't then it is completely on edu and tets this time around. I still feel both of them could have treated Pepe better and get more from him.

 

[UpTheGunnerz]

Tomorrow I get my reactions back, can’t wait

 

[Rasmi]

Cause turkey is a lovely, beautiful, culturally reach, splendid weather, cat friendly, tea exquisite, coffee expertise country?

Turkey is an underrated country tbh.

 

[UpTheGunnerz]

Turkey is an underrated country tbh.

Yeah it’s mesmerising. And Turks are a very welcoming people in my experience.

 

[Rasmi]

Yeah it’s mesmerising. And Turks are a very welcoming people in my experience.

I agree. I’m actually going there next month. Putting couple of gold teeth in my mouth. Much cheaper than uk

 

[Malky]

Paying £72M for the guy then terminating his contract at 28 years old is ****ing crazy - Pepe should be at his peak right now, yet this is what we're reduced too.
In all honesty I'm more angry at Arteta/Edu for this one than Raul for paying that amount for him - Pepe was in good form, even when Arteta gave him his limted chances he looked good yet Arteta persisted with Willian and killed all confidence Pepe had, he never looked the same player, he actually looked like he was no longer interested.
This has been a perfect example of mismanagment! Its been poorly dealt with and tanked any value Pepe had.
That said I wish Pepe well. Can see this being another situation where we release a player only for the club he signs for to sell him on in a year or so and make a profit.

 

[ClubLevel]

Hope we get some figures from the finances soon, from what I have read we only paid about £50m for him and not the extra clauses (£72m). Probably had about £10m value left on the books plus his wages and the fee we got, so hoping we've managed to get back around £20m.

 

[db10_therza]

The classic athlete vs technician battle.

You know the game is gone when the lanky vegan hairdresser is referred to as “the athlete” fml

 

[Rasmi]

Paying £72M for the guy then terminating his contract at 28 years old is ****ing crazy - Pepe should be at his peak right now, yet this is what we're reduced too.
In all honesty I'm more angry at Arteta/Edu for this one than Raul for paying that amount for him - Pepe was in good form, even when Arteta gave him his limted chances he looked good yet Arteta persisted with Willian and killed all confidence Pepe had, he never looked the same player, he actually looked like he was no longer interested.
This has been a perfect example of mismanagment! Its been poorly dealt with and tanked any value Pepe had.
That said I wish Pepe well. Can see this being another situation where we release a player only for the club he signs for to sell him on in a year or so and make a profit.

We could have used him and made him part of the squad. But Arteta didn’t want to and he doesn’t care about finance. When guys like Anthony and sancho are still getting minutes and their clubs still working on getting something out of them. It shows we chose to get rid of him purely because the manager didn’t like him

While Nelson is still here. There is no way Nelson is better than pepe

 

[North5]

View attachment 18342

Why’s bro so happy?

Hostage photo

 

[Heskey]

 

[lomekian]

He was injured, was decent for the rest but definitely not like he was with us. Was done with football after 2021 when Arteta fooled him with Willian and benched him for no reason. We'll see if he does the same with Havertz who was way worse in the PL than Pepe

Yeah, this one can definitely be pinned on Arteta

He really wasn't that decent for the rest. Can be very good when countering into space, but not in a controlled style. Also think Arteta trying to coach him into being a defensively responsible and possession based player kind of broke him. We have to hope Havertz wasn't forever broken by Chelsea.

 

[lomekian]

Paying £72M for the guy then terminating his contract at 28 years old is ****ing crazy - Pepe should be at his peak right now, yet this is what we're reduced too.
In all honesty I'm more angry at Arteta/Edu for this one than Raul for paying that amount for him - Pepe was in good form, even when Arteta gave him his limted chances he looked good yet Arteta persisted with Willian and killed all confidence Pepe had, he never looked the same player, he actually looked like he was no longer interested.
This has been a perfect example of mismanagment! Its been poorly dealt with and tanked any value Pepe had.
That said I wish Pepe well. Can see this being another situation where we release a player only for the club he signs for to sell him on in a year or so and make a profit.

If you are more angry with Areta/Edu than Raul, that says rather more about you than them. Particularly Edu, who appears to be the innocent drive by victim in this one.

Raul paid about 30m over the odds looking at the market that summer (and wasn't the dodgy nature of this deal that led to the internal investigation?) for a player his then manager Unai didn't want, that didn't fit into the way the team was being constructed, having clearly not done due diligence over the player's adaptability, underlying metrics etc.

Sure Arteta could have retained his value more, but ultimately, as soon as Saka became a full time right sided player, Pepe's goose was cooked. Behind permafit star-boy, he was not going to see much pitch time. Agree the Willian move and perseverance was a huge misjudgement all round, but it wasn't that that tanked Pepe's value.

Basically Pepe is a good but not great player with some exciting strengths and some glaring weaknesses who simply couldn't play the way the coach wanted. In a mid table, counter-attacking side with a willingness to play to his strengths, Pepe would probably still be pretty effective.

It was a bad transfer that the new regime didn't try as hard as they might to salvage. But given the team's progression since Pepe was getting minutes here, its hard to disagree that they made the right choices from a coaching perspective, if not a strategic asset usage one.

 

[Macho]

You know the game is gone when the lanky vegan hairdresser is referred to as “the athlete” fml

He's tall, reasonably fast and pretty powerful. None of those you can say for Fabio who has nothing but technique so in this story he's the athlete.

Fine if you're going to pick holes in my clichés I will just find a new one. David and Goliath. One is 6'5 and has the machine behind him, the other a 5 foot nothing agent favour from obscurity. Still a classic.

 

[db10_therza]

He's tall, reasonably fast and pretty powerful. None of those you can say for Fabio who has nothing but technique so in this story he's the athlete.

Fine if you're going to pick holes in my clichés I will just find a new one. David and Goliath. One is 6'5 and has the machine behind him, the other a 5 foot nothing agent favour from obscurity. Still a classic.

Much better.

I’m sure you can appreciate why a Bangladeshi might have issues equating “tall” with “athletic” …

 

[Batman]

Turkey is an underrated country tbh.

Lovely place. I went there a few times on holiday and it's always been delightful. Plus if my hair starts to thin, it is the destination.