Ten Things You Didn’t Know About Nicolas Pepe
Things you didn’t know about Nicolas Pepe? Facts about Nicolas Pepe? Everything you need to know about Nicolas Pepe? Things you should know about Nicolas Pepe?
I am sure you were taken aback by the news of Nicolas Pepe signing for Arsenal for a club-record fee of £72m (€80m). It might have raised questions on why the Gunners felt the need to sign such a player and why at such a high price.
Well, we are about to find out why.
Ten Things You Didn’t Know About Nicolas Pepe
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Pepe has been working his way up the Ligue 1 charts ever since he was a skinny teenager. The winger started out with Angers after signing with them in 2013 and spending the first season with the club’s reserve side.
He impressed enough to earn a move to LOSC Lille for €10m and play two rewarding seasons with them.
Now, one good season can be written off as a fluke as it tends to happen with so many rising talents these days. But Nicolas Pepe has been grabbing headlines for a while now. Even in his first interview with Arsenal, he revealed how hard he has had to work to reach the level he is at today.
Pepe thrived in a three-man forward line alongside Jonathan Bamba and Jonathan Ikone last season and Unai Emery will be hoping to replicate that with his own fearsome attack. The trio’s pace and precision quickly turned Lille into one of Europe’s most exciting sides – and now, the Gunners will be hoping to see similar results with Pepe alongside Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette.
10. Prolific numbers in 2019 – Things You Didn’t Know About Nicolas Pepe
In his first season, Pepe played regularly but avoided relegation with Lille by narrow margins. Come 2018, he hit out his best form, completely overturning his club’s fortunes with 22 goals and 11 assists in the Ligue 1.
One of the major reasons Arsenal and a handful of other top clubs were so eager to sign him was because of his ability to create goals. Yes, he scored goals almost on a nightly basis but look at his assist numbers. He played a part in almost half of Lille’s 68 goals in the Ligue 1 campaign last term. His 33-goal involvement put him in elite company, alongside the likes of Lionel Messi (49), Kylian Mbappe (40) and Fabio Quagliarella (34).
9. Penalty specialist – Things You Didn’t Know About Nicolas Pepe
Pepe is a set-piece taker. 9 of his 22 goals in the league last term came through a penalty. While, Arsenal are not exactly short in that department with both Lacazette and Aubameyang being exceptional penalty takers, they could use his expertise in freekicks.
8. Better record than Wilfried Zaha – Things You Didn’t Know About Nicolas Pepe
For the longest time, Arsenal seemed set on signing Pepe’s compatriot and Premier League veteran, Wilfried Zaha from Crystal Palace. If it were not for the Eagles’ outlandish asking price, the Gunners might have even ended up with the Ivorian.
I guess the stars lined up to bring a more younger and more adaptable winger into the Arsenal stands sine Pépé boasts of a better scoring record than Zaha. As of last season, he scores a goal every 194 minutes whereas Zaha finds the back of the net once in every 282.
7. Scouted by Marco Bielsa
Pepe was scouted by none other than current Leeds United manager, Marco Bielsa, out of the lower French divisions. He converted the player from a striker to a right flank attacker.
6. Long line of Ivory Coast players
Pepe becomes the fourth ever Ivory Coast player to join the Arsenal ranks behind Kolo Toure, Emmanuel Eboue and Gervinho.
5. Everyone wanted him
He finished second behind Kylian Mbappe in the best player rankings and was named in the UNPF Team Of The Season. After his standout campaign, European giants like Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Juventus and Liverpool – all were interested in signing him but Arsenal managed to convince him into a move.
4. Early Premier League entry
We could have seen Pepe in the Premier League a bit earlier if Lille had accepted Watford’s €7m bid in January 2017. At that point of time, the French outfit seemed destined to be relegated and both the Hornets and Hull City made an attempt to poach him out of their books for cheap.
Lille knew what they had and decided to hold on to him for a much larger payoff.
3. Quick on his feet
There is no denying that Pepe is quick on the pitch but how fast is he truly? According to Wyscout, the 24-year-old averages 2.61 progressive runs and 7.71 dribbles per match with a completion rate of 48%.
2. Late bloomer
Lille coach, Christophe Galtier was quoted to have said, “He doesn’t need an intermediary step before joining a Champions League club. He can go directly into that standard of club given what a fantastic season he’s having for us.”
But you should know that Pepe was not necessarily the world-class talent that he is today a short three years back. He didn’t make his first appearance in the European top-flight until he was 21
1. Reason behind success
Lille were down and written out midway through the 2017/18 campaign. Marco Bielsa was fired as their manager and it took a lot from the club to stay afloat. Shockingly, they finished second in the table the very next season and one of the main culprits was Pepe.
Tom Williams, a football journalist specialising in French football penned down exactly how Lille manager, Christophe Galtier got the best out of Pepe –
“Lille surprised everyone in France by finishing second behind Paris Saint-Germain last season and Pepe was the symbol of their success, scoring 23 goals across all competitions and emerging as one of the most exciting players in European football.
“He initially played up front for Lille under Marcelo Bielsa, but never really looked comfortable there. Since Galtier moved him to his preferred right-wing role after succeeding Bielsa in January 2018, he has been nothing short of scintillating.
“A quick, lithe attacking player, Pepe specialises in barrelling runs from deep positions. Several of his goals last season saw him pick the ball up in midfield and surge past defenders before finishing coolly with the inside of his left foot.
“He’s at his best with space to run into, but his speed of thought and the sharpness of his finishing mean he poses a threat even against tightly packed opposition defences.
“He didn’t live up to expectations at the Africa Cup of Nations, which suggests that he’s still developing as a player, but on his day he is a genuine world-beater.”
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