"People don’t care where you are from" - Arsenal flop reflects on time at Emirates 

Former Arsenal winger Nicolas Pepe has opened up about his time at the Emirates Stadium. The Ivory Coast international was poor with the Gunners after joining the club for a reported £72 million in the summer of 2019.

Overall, the winger made 112 appearances across competitions for the north Londoners, bagging 27 goals and 21 assists. While at the club, Pepe faced the media's wrath for underperforming after the Gunners broke their transfer record at the time to bring him in.

Speaking to L’Equipe, he said (via Get Football News France):

"I didn't ask anyone to pay €80m for me. At this moment, people don't care where you're from, they want you to deliver straightaway. There are not many players scoring 25 goals a season, and I was not even a centre-forward. I was not going to steamroll the Premier League like this."

Opening about the criticism he endured at the time, Pepe said:

"It was close to harassment. I'm not really into social media, but when my brother said what was being told about me, unconsciously, it affected me. It came from the media or some members of the club. The only people who have backed me are the Arsenal fans."

Currently, Pepe is a free agent after his year's deal with Süper Lig outfit Trabzonspor came to an end last month.

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Nicolas Pepe reveals Arsenal blocked a transfer out in the early parts of the summer of 2023

Nicolas Pepe revealed in a recent interview with L’Equipe that Arsenal blocked a move away for the winger in the summer of 2023. Eventually, the Ivorian departed in September of the same year after the European transfer market had shut.

Pepe claims that he wanted to leave earlier via a contract termination, but the Gunners insisted on securing a transfer sum. Speaking about this, he said (via Metro):

"I just wanted to play. I wanted to terminate earlier in the summer but Arsenal didn't want to. They said: 'We bought you for €80 million, we can't.' They asked for large sums of money so it ended up going wrong every time. They ended up accepting after the European market closed.

"Only the gulf countries and Turkey remained."

Pepe is only 29 and could still salvage his career. Last season, he made 23 appearances across competitions for his Turkish employers, bagging six goals and three assists.