When Nicolas Pepe left Arsenal in the summer to join Nice on loan, the move was something of an admittance from the club that their record signing simply had not worked out. Mikel Arteta preferred the young Bukayo Saka over the Ivorian and rarely gave Pepe too many chances to prove him wrong.
The move back to Ligue 1 was expected to provide the Arsenal wantaway with an opportunity to revive the form he showed at Lille that earned him the infamous £72million move. However, since making the switch to France, things have not gone smoothly.
He has so far scored just once in eight matches, his sole goal coming from the penalty spot too. Further to this he has no assists and has been outshone by the likes of Ross Barkley.
READ MORE: Arsenal handed Premier League title reminder by Erling Haaland after Man Utd demolition
In fact, in Nice’s last game, Pepe was dropped for the match with Paris Saint-Germain. Instead, Barkley was chosen in place of the Arsenal loanee.
Nice manager Lucien Favre criticised Pepe after his debut, highlighting a lack of commitment in terms of his pressing and ball recovery.
"He hasn’t played for a long time in England. He has done the pre-season with Arsenal, but he hasn’t played any matches," the manager said.
"He is lacking a bit of rhythm, intensity in his placements, in his pressing as well and in his ball recovery, because everyone has to do that. There aren’t any exceptions.
"If one or two players don’t do the work, the whole team is in trouble. Everyone has to do it at the same time, everyone has to defend to recover the ball.
"We’ve already discussed this (internally). Tiredness was there, we had extra time (during the Conference League qualification play-offs), there are players who ran 17km, I understand (their fatigue). But we cannot put that as an explanation for tiredness."
Since this, the performances have not particularly improved which has seemingly led to the drop against PSG. In the recent win over Ajaccio, Barkley was brought off the bench late on and contributed more than Pepe had despite starting the clash.
Whilst this might be vindicating Mikel Arteta’s decision to move Pepe on, even if temporarily, it is not exactly helping Arsenal. The Gunners will want to get a good fee for Pepe next summer but with just one year left on his contract, a strong loan would have helped maximise potential value.
Pepe’s exit though did leave Arsenal short with no natural senior backup to Saka. Both Reiss Nelson and Marquinhos are available, but the former has failed so far to establish himself in North London while the Brazilian remains very new to the club although impressed on his debut against FC Zurich.
Arsenal have been linked with a move for Shakhtar Donetsk’s Mykhaylo Mudryk, a 21-year-old wide player who would be the long-term replacement for Pepe. But there remain plenty of matches between now and January that Pepe’s absence might yet be felt; although based on his Nice displays perhaps not.
READ NEXT:
Arsenal's next six Premier League fixtures compared to Chelsea, Tottenham, Man Utd and Man City
Mikel Arteta's message to Arsenal players as superb Saliba has fans dreaming of title charge
Smith Rowe, Partey, Odegaard - Arsenal injury news and return dates after Tottenham clash
Arsenal handed huge Gabriel Jesus boost ahead of Liverpool clash as Gunners eye title push
Arsenal news and transfers LIVE: All the latest news, rumours and gossip from the Emirates Stadium
