Almost four years on, Mikel Arteta goes into this weekend's north London derby with an Arsenal team, finally, built in his image
His 23 goals and 12 assists in 41 games for the Ligue 1 side in 2018-19 had boosted his profile but many in football felt it to be over the odds, which started to form a peculiar pattern.
Pepe’s record of 27 goals and 21 assists in 112 games for Arsenal is not immediately underwhelming, especially considering not much more than half of those appearances were starts. He even finished second in Arsenal’s player of the season voting for 2020-21, when he played a major part in their run to thesemi-finals, scoring six goals and assisting another four in 13 appearances in that competition.
As Arsenal endured a torrid start to the following season, though, Arteta started to phase him out. He described Pepe as a “free spirit” but one who “needed guidance”. The contrast to , who has always been defensively disciplined — plus increasing competition for places in forward positions — meant Pepe increasingly struggled.When he returned to Ligue 1 late last August on a season’s loan to Nice, it was clear that a permanent exit was just a matter of time.
Between the summer 2018 and summer 2020 transfer markets, when Sanllehi left his post as the controlling presence in Arsenal’s recruitment strategy, they signed 21 players. Just four of them are still there.
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