Arsenal flop Nicolas Pépé has insisted he doesn’t regret his move to the club or hold any resentment towards manager Mikel Arteta.
The winger, now at Villarreal, has been speaking to Eurosport about his career and his ill-fated spell with the Gunners.
Pépé joined Arsenal in an €80m deal in August 2019 after an impressive couple of seasons with Lille in which he had appeared to be the next emerging talent in Europe.
Arsenal moved to snap him up and paid a big fee to do so, with Pépé remaining their biggest transfer fee ever until Declan Rice arrive for €116.6m in 2023.
Unlike Rice, Pépé did not prove to be value for money, managing just 27 goals and 21 assist in 112 appearances for the club during his time at the Emirates.
He failed to settle with the Gunners or show anything to suggest he was worth the outlay, eventually being sent on loan to OGC Nice in 2022 before then being released by Arsenal the following year.
To this day he is considered one of the Gunners’ worst ever signings, but he refuses to look at it that way.
“Arsenal remains a big step forward in my career,” he said.
“Playing with the Gunners remains unforgettable. I won titles (the FA Cup and the Community Shield in 2020) with this great club so it’s not a bad adventure either.
“I only remember the good things. The Arsenal chapter, I wouldn’t say what it is behind me but rather that it will accompany me until the end of my career.
“It was not me who decided to put in this amount (his transfer fee). That’s how it is, that’s the market. Now it is becoming more and more common. Afterwards, considering the reviews, it was frustrating for me but personally, it didn’t impact me that much.”
And he insists there is no ill feeling towards Arteta either, despite the Spanish manager ultimately being the one to move him on from Arsenal.
Pépé made 93 appearances under the Spaniard, the most of any manager in his career to date but found himself out of the picture towards the end of his time in London. That could lead to bad blood, but the 29-year-old insists that isn’t the case.
“Honestly, I have moved on. I have no resentment. Honestly, I wish him the best,” he added.
