Nicolas Pepe can be a top player: Mikel Arteta

Mikel Arteta has thrown his weight behind the struggling Nicolas Pepe, who hasn’t lived up to the expectations of the Arsenal fans so far.

This is Pepe’s first season at the club, but he has arrived with a huge reputation from the French club Lille and the club has spent a lot of money on him as well. So, it’s only normal that the fans want him to start impacting the games immediately.

But, according to Arteta, the move from France to England is something that takes the players a little bit of time to get used to and the fact that Pepe has found himself in an environment where the results have not been positive, it hasn’t helped him.

When the results are positive, the young players don’t feel the heat and can express themselves, but when the team is under pressure and a player is new at the club trying to find his feet, it can be difficult at times.

“I think it was a big change for him to come here from France. He found a team that wasn’t performing at their best. The environment for him to settle wasn’t ideal.” Arteta told the press.

Arteta insists that he is pretty sure about Pepe’s potential. He has shown in a couple of games that he can be a top player. It’s just a matter of confidence for him. Once he is confident, he can do really good things for Arsenal.

The Gunners boss thinks that Pepe can gain confidence only by playing more and more and if he has to play more, he will have to earn the playing opportunities by training hard enough. 

“The problem with confidence is that confidence is only good if he plays. If he trains well enough to convince me, then I have confidence in him. There has to be a mix between the two.” Arteta concluded.

Cover image credits: talkSPORT