Summary

Nicolas Pepe is still yet to return to London Colney for pre-season according to Charles Watts.

The Ivory Coast international spent last season on loan at OGC Nice in France, and is the subject of Saudi Arabian interest this summer.

How many goals did Nicolas Pepe score for Arsenal?

Pepe's move to Arsenal has been an ultimately disappointing move for both parties.

The winger was signed by Unai Emery for a then-club record fee of £72m and came into the league with very high expectations, having recorded 35 goal contributions in 41 games the season before his arrival in the Premier League.

The forward's first two campaigns at the Emirates were underwhelming but not awful, managing 18 goal contributions in his first campaign, and 21 goal contributions in the following campaign. The forward received praise from both Emery and Mikel Arteta during that time, with the current Aston Villa manager stating Pepe was a "very good player and we believe in him totally." whilst the current Gunners boss lauded the winger when he made the Europa League team of the tournament, stating: "His work ethic has been phenomenal and he’s deciding many more games and doing what he can do in the final third in a much more consistent way."

The 2021/22 season was where it really started to go wrong for Pepe. The goal contributions dried up, with the forward managing only nine contributions across the entire season. The forward only started five games as the manager opted to use the likes of Bukayo Saka on the wing instead of the £72m man.

Following the disappointing 21/22 season, the Ivorian headed back to Ligue 1 with Nice in an attempt to reignite his career, however, he failed to hit the heights he managed at Lille, managing just eight goals and one assist across the year-long loan, with manager Lucian Favre memorably tearing into the forward's debut performance ""He is lacking a bit of rhythm, intensity in his placements, in his pressing as well and in his ball recovery, because everyone has to do that. There aren’t any exceptions. If one or two players don’t do the work, the whole team is in trouble. Everyone has to do it at the same time, everyone has to defend to recover the ball.”

After it was reported that Nice would not be interested in bringing the player back next season, Saudi clubs moved to try and sign the forward, however, personal terms were never agreed upon, and the move collapsed, leaving the forward in the lurch regarding this season considering he is not part of Arteta's plans next season, with a report even suggesting that the Gunners could terminate the forwards contract.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, journalist Watts revealed that Pepe was yet to return to the club for pre-season training, and hinted that it could mean a move is brewing for the Ivorian: "Yeah the Nicolas Pepe thing, the fact he hasn’t even come back for training yet, for any part of training, to be assessed or go through any medical tests, it just makes you think that somethings been agreed, something's in the offing when it comes to him and what’s going to happen this summer however we don’t know of any firm offers for Pepe yet."

Should Arsenal keep Nicolas Pepe?

It really makes no sense for all parties to try and keep the player around.

For Arsenal, Pepe would be the third choice option in his natural right-wing spot, with Saka and Reiss Nelson ahead of him in the pecking order. Therefore, it makes little sense to keep a 28-year-old on £140k per week at the club to barely play. However, following the collapse in Saudi interest, there are no other clubs willing to take a gamble on the attacker as of now, so the club may be forced to negotiate the termination of their second most expensive signing's contract in order to save on the £7.2m a year wages.

For the winger, a move away from Arsenal would be the best for him with it unlikely that he breaks into the North London club's squad next season. Should the player reduce his wage demands, a move to the Saudi Pro League may well be back on the cards, but the smartest move might be to terminate his deal with the Gunners, allowing him to move to any club on a free transfer, which may open up some other opportunities for moves that didn't previously present themselves due to financial constraints. And whilst the move may not be as big as his one to Arsenal in 2019, a move to a smaller club out of the limelight of the media might just be the right thing to get his career back on track.