Crystal Palace star Wilfried Zaha has opened up on his failed move to Arsenal in 2019, with the Gunners making a move for Nicolas Pepe instead. Pepe, a fellow Ivory Coast international, ended up making the club-record transfer to the Emirates for £72million.
The 26-year-old has made just 15 appearances in the Premier League this season, scoring once and assisting once in those games. It marks a disappointing record given the transfer fee, with academy youngster Bukayo Saka taking up his preferred right-wing role.
Pepe did, however, enjoy a decent spell in the Africa Cup of Nations with Ivory Coast, scoring in his time away. Following the trip, Mikel Arteta revealed he wants to give the winger more chances: “I don’t want to have a player like him sitting on the bench and not using him and the moment I have chances, I want to give him a chance.”
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Despite the problems for the former Lille forward, things could have turned out very differently three-years ago. Instead of signing Pepe, the Gunners could have signed Zaha.
The Crystal Palace talisman was on the verge of signing before the club chose otherwise, as revealed by the winger on Jamie Carragher’s The Greatest Game Podcast. He said: “I had a conversation with the manager actually. [Unai] Emery was just like, ‘We don’t really need to go through much’.
“He said he’d seen me play, he knows I can change games at any time and stuff like that. He was like, ‘Yeah we’d love to have you’ and I was just like, ‘Yeah I’d love to come’.
“The conversation was rather straightforward because I played against him when he was manager of Arsenal. He saw what I could do, saw my work-rate, and what I could add to the team.
“Obviously, it was up to the club who they chose and they chose Pepe over me.” It shows just how close things were to turning out differently for both clubs, though his nine goals and one assist in the Premier League suggests he could have carried that form over.
Whether it would have worked though will forever be a mystery, but it remains a big “what if?” moment for the club. However, he may have a chance to show the club what they missed out on when his Palace side host Arsenal on Monday.
