Nicolas Pepe has admitted his relationship with his former boss Mikel Arteta was strained as Arsenal's former record signing opened up on his struggles at the Emirates.
The Ivorian joined the Gunners in a club-record £72million transfer from Lille, a deal that was regarded as a coup after he scored 22 goals for the Les Dogues during the 2018-19 campaign.
Pepe was signed by former boss Unai Emery and scored 27 goals in 119 appearances for the Gunners. But the forward largely flattered to deceive and dropped down the pecking order under Arteta when the Spaniard took over only five months after Pepe's arrival.
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Having struggled to repeat his heroics in the Premier League, he departed on a free transfer in the summer of 2023 after agreeing a mutual termination of his contract, despite having one year left to run.
And it appears there is no love lost between the pair as Pepe took a swipe at Arteta for the breakdown in their relationship, claiming he failed to explain why he was left out of the starting XI.
“With Arteta, it wasn’t… well, it was good at the start,” Pepe told The Athletic. “After that, the confidence wasn’t really there. I got less and less game time, so there was some frustration.
“I’m not someone who likes being on the bench every week without justification or explanation. So yeah, that’s something that created some tension.”
Arsenal were criticised at the time after they were perceived to have overpaid for Pepe, who was 23 and regarded as a bright talent in the game.
It was a rare lapse in judgement from their former transfer guru Edu Gaspar, who engineered a number of high-profile deals to improve the squad.
Pepe believes the exorbitant amount paid for him put a target on his back and claimed he was unfairly compared against stars such as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo due to his transfer fee.
“When a club pays that much for you, the little details don’t matter,” Pepe added. “I was young; it was the first time I had left France to play abroad. I had to adapt in lots of ways, but people don’t see that. They only see what happens on the pitch.
“Automatically, the first player to be criticised is the one that cost a lot of money. You have to be getting goals and assists, goals and assists. People expected 30, 35, 40 goals a season. But it was only Messi and Ronaldo who did that.
“Arsenal spent a lot of money on me and I paid the price for it.”
Pepe left to join Trabzonspor in 2023 on a free transfer but left the Turkish outfit after just one season. Now 29, he is now playing for Villarreal in La Liga and has scored once in 11 appearances this season.
