'I didn’t ask for €80m to be spent on me!' - Nicolas Pepe admits 'trauma' of disastrous Arsenal spell left him contemplating retirement

Pepe joined Arsenal with a lot of expectation placed on his back after a successful stint with Lille, as the Gunners splashed out a then-club record fee of €80 million (£72m/$87m) for the Ivorian winger in 2019. However, he never managed to live up to that price tag and received a lot of criticism for his performances. The 29-year-old has now opened up for the first time about his difficult time at the Emirates Stadium.

Speaking to L'Equipe, Pepe said: "At Arsenal, I had suffered a kind of trauma, as if my passion had been taken away from me, I had a distaste for football. By no longer playing, I wondered why I was doing this job. I doubted to the point that I thought about stopping everything.

"I wondered how they could have attacked me so much. People went so far as to call me the biggest flop in the history of the Premier League! I didn’t ask for €80m to be spent on me. At this amount, people don’t care where you come from, they want you to perform directly.

"There aren’t many players who immediately score 25 goals per season, and I’m not even a No9. I wasn’t going to play in the Premier League like that. But that’s what earned me this flood of criticism. It was almost harassment. I don’t look at social media a lot, but if my brother relayed to me 'they said that about you', unconsciously, it touched me.

"It also came from the media or certain members of the club. They don't realise that it can have an impact on the mind, on the family and that has repercussions on performance. The only people who have always supported me are Arsenal fans."

The Ivory Coast international made a total of 112 appearances for the Gunners and put up decent numbers as he scored 27 goals and provided 21 assists, but ultimately failed to earn a regular spot in the team. Arsenal terminated Pepe's contract in September 2023 and he subsequently joined Trabzonspor, but only spent one year with the Turkish club.

The former Arsenal man is currently a free agent following his spell with Trabzonspor and will be actively looking for a new club to join this summer to try and avoid being out of action for an extended period. "I still want to show that I can do something," Pepe added to L'Equipe. "I'm not finished with Europe and with football."