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Former Arsenal forward Nicolas Pepe narrated how his experience at the club traumatised him.
Ivorian winger Nicolas Pepe has opened up on how his failed stint at Arsenal traumatised him, stating that his enthusiasm for the game was stolen from him.
Pepe joined in the summer of 2018 as a club-record transfer (€80 million) from Ligue 1 side Lille. However, he only showed flashes of the brilliance that attracted the club to him during his stint at the Emirates, racking up 112 appearances, scoring 27 goals and setting up 21 assists.
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The 29-year-old fell out of favour with Mikel Arteta and was shipped out to Nice on loan. He was subsequently released from his contract with 12 months remaining, on mutual agreement. He joined Trabzonspor in the Super Lig on a free transfer but is now on the free agent market once again.
What Pepe said
“At Arsenal, I had suffered a kind of trauma, as if my passion had been taken away from me, I had a distaste for football,” Pepe said in an interview with L’Equipe, per Standard UK.
“By no longer playing, I wondered why I was doing this job. I doubted to the point that I thought about stopping everything. I wondered how they could have attacked me so much. People went so far as to call me the biggest flop in the history of the Premier League!
“I didn’t ask for €80m to be spent on me. At this amount, people don’t care where you come from; they want you to perform directly.
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“There aren’t many players who immediately score 25 goals per season, and I’m not even a No. 9. I wasn’t going to play in the Premier League like that. But that’s what earned me this flood of criticism.
“It was almost harassment. I don’t look at social media a lot, but if my brother relayed to me “they said that about you," unconsciously, it touched me.
“It also came from the media or certain members of the club. They don't realise that it can have an impact on the mind, on the family and that has repercussions on performance. The only people who have always supported me are Arsenal fans.”
Meanwhile, Arsenal have moved on from Pepe and have been competing at the top of the Premier League in the last two seasons. Although they missed out on the trophy on both occasions, club captain Martin Odegaard believes they are close to achieving their dreams.
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