Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's Arsenal exit poses more questions than one.
The 32-year-old agreed to a mutual termination of his contract that still had around 18 months left to run at the Emirates Stadium earlier in the week and subsequently joined Barcelona on a free transfer.
As a result, not only does Gunners manager Mikel Arteta still need to appoint a permanent captain having stripped Aubameyang of the armband at the beginning of December, but he must also unearth a reliable goalscorer.
Whilst the Gabon international wasn't having his best season in terms of goals prior to leaving Arsenal, his record after joining from Borussia Dortmund in January 2018 was rather impressive.
As pointed out by Opta, since the move his 68 Premier League goals have been worth more points (53) than any other player's across the entire division. This is more than the likes of Mohamed Salah, Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy.
Of Aubameyang's 92 goals for Arsenal across all competitions, ten of which were penalties as prior to being exiled from the first-team squad he was the go-to penalty taker when the side awarded a spot-kick.
However, with two missed penalties this season - the last coming against Watford in November - Aubameyang's record from the spot had begun to look less and less impressive.
In total, he failed to convert five penalties in Arsenal colours and he won't be getting the chance to improve on that record.
After Aubameyang was dropped, Alexandre Lacazette has since taken on the responsibility and he's scored two out of three this season across all competitions, but he did miss his first penalty for Arsenal in the 2-0 win over West Ham United back in December.
Although, the Frenchman did make amends on Boxing Day in the 5-0 thrashing of Norwich City and has proven to be one of the most reliable penalty takers in the Gunners' squad.
But whilst Lacazette is a very good option from 12 yards, Nicolas Pepe is the perfect option.
Interestingly, the Ivorian's first goal for the Gunners following his record £72million transfer in the summer of 2019 did come from the spot as Aubameyang allowed him to take a penalty against Aston Villa.
That's one of five penalties (including the Carabao Cup shootout win over Liverpool last season) that the Ivory Coast international has scored for Arsenal - and he's never missed for the club.
In fact, as per transfermarkt, Pepe has only ever missed one penalty in his career.
Now, some Arsenal fans have been clamouring for Arteta to experiment with Pepe as a centre-forward given the shortage of natural options in that area following Aubameyang's exit.
As has Gunners legend Ian Wright.
The idea of replacing Lacazette as Arsenal's main striker may not appeal to the 26-year-old after revealing his preference to run at defenders rather than to be a focal point in attack.
But after scoring for Ivory Coast in their Africa Cup of Nations round of 16 shootout defeat against Egypt last month, Pepe has shown that he can replace the Frenchman as the Gunners' first-choice penalty taker for the rest of the season.
