Pepe Reveals How He Came Close to Retiring from Football During Troubled Arsenal Spell
Former Arsenal club-record signing Nicolas Pepe has opened up about his difficult time at the club, revealing that he was so affected by criticism that he almost quit the sport altogether.
Pepe, 29, joined Arsenal from Lille for a then-record fee of £72 million in the summer of 2019, but his time at the Emirates Stadium was marred by inconsistency and lack of form. The Ivory Coast international scored just 11 goals in 61 appearances, and was loaned out to Nice and eventually left the club without a year left on his contract.
In a revealing interview with French outlet L’Equipe, Pepe revealed the toll that the constant criticism took on him, saying: "I was bullied in London. I didn’t ask for €80 million to be paid for me. It was a kind of trauma, as if my passion had been taken away."
The criticism, he explained, had a significant impact on his mental state and ultimately affected his performance on the pitch. "I had an aversion to football, and thought about quitting," he said. "They were talking about me as the biggest failure in the history of the Premier League."
Pepe also touched on the issue of social media criticism, revealing that it was difficult to cope with the constant negative feedback online. "I don’t look at social media much, but if my brother told me, ‘This is what they said about you’, it would affect me unconsciously," he said.
His situation was not helped by some members of the media and certain individuals at the club, who he claims were responsible for some of the harsh criticism. "It also came from the media, or from certain members of the club. They don’t realise that it can affect the mental state, the family and it affects performance."
This latest revelation from Pepe offers a glimpse into the difficulties that many professional footballers face, and highlights the need for greater empathy and understanding from the media and the public.