Arsenal player has successfully sealed his departure from Arsenal and is set to join a Turkish club. However, his time with the Ivory Coast national team was not without some friction.
After an unimpressive stint as Arsenal’s record signing, Pepe has finally concluded his exit from the club. The Gunners acquired him in 2019 for a hefty fee of £72m following his impressive performances at Lille. Despite interest from Liverpool and other clubs, Arsenal splurged to secure the highly regarded winger, but he failed to consistently meet expectations.
Pepe occasionally demonstrated moments of brilliance, but his overall output fell short. As a result, he was loaned out on a few occasions, and Arsenal were determined to offload him. Eventually, they had to accept a massive financial loss as he joined Turkish side Trabzonspor on a free transfer.
It wasn’t his Arsenal teammates who expressed their frustration, but rather his peers within the Ivory Coast national team. Pepe has earned 37 caps for his country, finding the back of the net 10 times, but players like Wilfried Zaha and Salomon Kalou tried their best to distance themselves.
During international duty, both Zaha and Kalou shared a room with the 28-year-old, but his loud snoring became unbearable, leading them to request a room change.
Zaha revealed in a 2021 episode of the OnTheJudy podcast: “Oh my days. Nicolas Pepe. Nicolas Pepe, I asked to leave the room. I went and asked to leave the room because he sounded like a motorbike. It was mad. Bro, it was crazy. I was like no, I can’t. They let me move and share rooms with Kalou, Salomon Kalou. And he was like, ‘Bro, I know. I moved myself’.”
Last season, Pepe was loaned to Nice in an attempt to rediscover his past form in Ligue 1. However, he failed to recapture his previous heights. With Arsenal’s attacking options already settled, and Mikel Arteta keen to offload him, there seemed to be no way back into the starting lineup for the 28-year-old. Pepe departs Arsenal after making 112 appearances, scoring 27 goals, and winning the FA Cup in 2020.
