It's rare that a £72 million signing can go four months without starting a Premier League match for a club without anyone seeming to notice.
But that has been the case for Nicolas Pepe whose last outing from the off in a league game came during the 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace all the way back in October.
With the lack of game time, and the likes of Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, Emile Smith Rowe and even Eddie Nketiah ahead of him in the pecking order, it seemed his Arsenal career could be over when stories linking him with a move away emerged on January transfer deadline day.
Now though, it seems a revival is on the cards.
With Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang having left the club the amount of obvious goal threats in the Arsenal squad has diminished rapidly over the past month.
Alexandre Lacazette and Eddie Nketiah have just three Premier League goals between them, while Gabriel Martinelli and Emile Smith Rowe have never started consistently across a season and Bukayo Saka is still yet to quite match his finishing potential.
All of a sudden Pepe is that rare commodity at the Emirates right now - a proven goal scorer.
The Ivorian was the Gunners' second top scorer last season with 16 goals across all competitions, and has generally been able to contribute to finding the back of the net when given a chance.
This though is unlikely to be enough to see him given a regular start.
It seems that what Mikel Arteta rates above potency in front of goal is a player's value to the team. Even during December's 5-1 Carabao Cup win over Sunderland in which the 26-year-old registered a goal and two assists, the Spaniard could been seen yelling at him for not standing in the right place to press from goal kicks among plenty of other indiscretions.
It is these lapses in concentration that have led many to question Pepe's commitment to the team.
Not long after his arrival in 2019, Roy Keane, never one to miss out on an opportunity to criticise a player's character, was keen to highlight the apparent lack of desire in his game.
"Disappointed really with him, since he's come to the club he's not had great body language," said Keane on Sky Sports.
"We make excuses for players a lot, it takes time to settle into a club.
"But you see this young kid tonight [Saka], Pepe compared to him for the money they paid he needs to do a lot more.
"His work rate, his lack of quality, end product, but again it's his body language. He didn't put up a fight tonight."
However, indications from Arteta have suggested this is not the case. The Spaniard revealed after his impressive display against the Black Cats, that throughout his time on the sidelines, Pepe was consistently lobbying for further minutes on the pitch.
"A player that doesn’t play, if he’s happy we have a big problem," Arteta said. "Nico has not been happy.
"He’s been trying to challenge us and asking for more minutes because this is what he wants to do. Rightly so and this is the attitude we want from our players."
The 26-year-old is still behind the likes of Bukayo Saka, Emile Smith Rowe and Gabriel Martinelli in the pecking order but having moved one step closer to the first team it looks as though he's about to get more of a chance at the back end of the season. With just over two years left on his deal at the Emirates, it will be crucial that he takes it.
