Report: Thierry Henry’s comments on Nicolas Pepe and why gooners need to give him time

Arsenal completed the signing of Nicolas Pepe from Lille for a record fee of £72million and the gooners thought that the Ivorian international would be able to spearhead them into a comfortable a top four position but the winger has however struggled to perform consistently in the Premier League. Pepe has received a lot of criticism for not performing well when he cost a lot but Thierry Henry’s comments about this situation deserve to always be remembered by the fans of the North Londoners.

Nicolas Pepe scored 22 goals as well as making eleven assists for Lille in the French Ligue one last season and this saw Arsenal make sure to bring him to the Emirates Stadium for the 2019/20 campaign even though it saw them break their transfer record. Pepe has only been able to score four goals as well as making six assists in the Premier League and that is however considered small by the Arsenal fans since they expected more from him.

LONDON, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 22: Nicolas Pepe scores the 2nd Arsenal goal from the penalty spot during the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Aston Villa at Emirates Stadium on September 22, 2019 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)

Arsenal’s best ever player Thierry Henry did send a message to the fans a few months back saying that he understands Pepe since he has come to England for the first time in his career and urged them to forget about his price tag for a minute, and rather give the 24-year-old time to adapt to the Premier League. Henry faced the same problems when he came to Arsenal from Juventus at a young age but he later went on to become the best player in their history.

“When you arrive like that, you’re always going to be talked about, and people are always going to target you.” Henry told Yahoo Sport.

“He needs to make sure he doesn’t listen to that and go out and perform. People need to forget about the price tag. He didn’t ask to be bought for that amount of money himself.”

“It’s not always easy to arrive in a team, adapt to a new style of play. The Premier League, as we know, is not the same as the French League or any other league, by the way. So he needs to adapt to that. We need to give him time.”

ST ALBANS, ENGLAND – JANUARY 20: Arsenal Head Coach Mikel Arteta talks with Nicolas Pepe during a training session at London Colney on January 20, 2020 in St Albans, England. (Photo by Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)

Pepe has played in the French Ligue throughout his whole career and his performances last season also did have to do with how their Lille team was set up and so this shows how it is always important to consider many points while rating players. Pepe came to Arsenal and played for Unai Emery for months when the Spanish boss was in his last days as a boss and that period is always tough for all players and being new just makes it worse but the fans will however have to now give him time under Arteta as he has massively improved since the 38-year-old got appointed as the new Arsenal head coach.