Nicolas Pépé has revealed he developed “a distaste for football” during his time at Arsenal, which left him considering his career in the game.
The winger has been speaking to L’Equipe, relayed by RMC Sport, about his time at the Emirates and how much of a disaster it proved to be for his love for the game.
Pépé currently finds himself without a club after being released by Trabzonspor after just a year at the Turkish club.
He joined them on a free transfer from Arsenal last summer but was unable to convince, continuing what have been a difficult few years for him.
He joined Arsenal in an €80m deal from LOSC Lille in August 2019 after emerging as one of the rising stars in French football and Europe with the Ligue 1 side during a two-year period after an €18m move from Angers SCO in 2017.
His time at the Emirates was largely seen as a disastrous one, though, despite a tally of 27 goals and 21 assists in 112 games for the club in total.
He was shipped out to Nice on loan in August 2022 before being released by Arsenal the following year, with them deciding to cut ties and essentially write off a major transfer mistake in the process.
The winger has struggled to bounce back since and admits he lost his joy for the game while playing for the Gunners.
“At Arsenal, I had suffered a sort of trauma, as if my passion had been taken away from me, I had a distaste for football,” he said.
“By no longer playing, I wondered why I was doing this job. I doubted to the point that I was thinking about stopping everything.”
