Mikel Arteta reveals why Nicolas Pepe’s contract was terminated

Mikel Arteta explains why Arsenal decided to terminate Pepe’s contract.

The Ivory Coast international had to terminate his contract with the Gunners to join Turkish side Trabzonspor this summer window.

He was brought to the Emirates for a then club-record fee of £72million in 2019 and struggled for form and consistency at the club.

Pepe will now be looking to relaunch his career at Turkey and manager Mikel Arteta insists it’s not Pepe’s fault he had to deal with the pressure of a huge price tag.

‘Every case has been very different and in the end, it is a few parties who have to agree to something,’ said Arteta. ‘It is not a decision that I take alone.’

‘I wasn’t involved in the process of that deal,’ said Arteta. ‘What I can say about him as a person is that he’s a phenomenal boy. He tried really hard.

‘It is not his fault the amount of money that we paid at the time and that’s it. When things are not working on, you have to move on.

‘There’s no point trying when something is not working and that decision has been made and I think it benefits all parties.’

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