Report: How Mikel Arteta will make Pepe one of the best wingers in the PL next season

Arsenal signed Nicolas Pepe from Lille in the summer transfer window on a record fee of £72million but he has however been underwhelming as he has passed through three managers in just one season. Mikel Arteta got appointed as Arsenal’s boss last year and he is well praised for improving wingers at Manchester City and we explain how the Spaniard will make sure that Pepe becomes one of the best wingers in the squad.

1. NICOLAS PEPE WILL NEXT SEASON PLAY IN A STABLE SYSTEM

Former Arsenal head coach Unai Emery was criticised for many things during his tenure at the Emirates Stadium and one of the main points was that the Spanish coach didn’t implement a good system at the club as the gunners slowly lost their identity of being an attacking side and this affected Nicolas Pepe so much as he was new in England, and was now playing under a very confusing system that didn’t make most of the players happy.

Mikel Arteta has however massively improved the gunners including putting up a system that can allow players to grow and improve in their right positions without too much tinkering that would end up confusing the players. Pepe has already improved under Arteta since the gunners are more attacking under him than when Emery was still at the club and so the Ivorian international will only continue to improve as the players continue to absorb the system of the new boss.

Arsenal Manager Mikel Arteta speaks with Mesut Ozil (left) and Nicolas Pepe on the touchline during the FA Cup third round match at Emirates Stadium, London. (Photo by John Walton/PA Images via Getty Images)

2. PEPE WILL FINALLY BE GIVEN HIS WISH OF AN OVERLAPPING RIGHT BACK

Nicolas Pepe was linked with many clubs in last year’s summer transfer window and some of those reports said that the Ivorian had asked the teams that wanted him to first confirm that they use an overlapping fullback since he is playstyle requires him to be able to draw defenders with his dribbling hence giving space for a right back to run to and cross the ball into the penalty box.

Pepe played with Ainsley Maitland-Niles who isn’t a rightback for a long time this season since Bellerin was still on the sidelines and he is up to now not yet fully fit to play in this role but he will however be at his best next season as Arteta has already shown that he wants overlapping fullbacks in his side and has already been using it on the left side. It’s believed that the right back that combines with Pepe will be allowed to also overlap next season since the gunners will have improved defensively in order to avoid the counter attacks that would start due to overlapping of both fullbacks.