‘You might disagree’: Danny Murphy surprised Arsenal let ‘skilful’ 27-year-old leave; thinks they need him now
Danny Murphy has told talkSPORT (4/1; 11:27) that he was surprised that Arsenal allowed Nicolas Pepe to leave in the summer, suggesting that he would have a role to play in the current squad if he was still at the Emirates.
Pepe sealed a loan move to Nice after a tough time with the Gunners. The Ivorian had never been able to vindicate the club’s decision to make him their record signing, only showing glimpses of his quality.
It seemed to be a sensible move to loan him out in the summer. Arsenal are never going to recoup the full amount for the forward. So giving him a chance to leave and play regularly opened the door for Pepe to potentially build his value back up ahead of a permanent sale.
Murphy surprised Arsenal allowed Nicolas Pepe to leave
And he has done well back in France. He has scored six goals in 20 games in all competitions. And he is playing regularly. So it is hard to have too many complaints with Arsenal’s decision to let him go.
However, with Arsenal now working to bolster their attacking options in this window, Murphy has suggested that letting Pepe leave may have been an error. And he hinted that Arsenal may need to think about sacrificing their Europa League campaign to put all their eggs in the Premier League basket.
“I was surprised, and you might disagree with this because I know he was up and down, but I was surprised they let Pepe go. Quick, skilful, he does give you a goal. When they’re back in the Europa League, I would be tempted to dismiss that,” he told talkSPORT.
Gunners fans will surely disagree with pundit
Arsenal fans will likely disagree with Murphy when it comes to Pepe. Unfortunately, there were too many false dawns during his time at the Emirates.
Just around the time when it appeared that he may have turned a corner, Pepe would then become anonymous in games again.
Signing Mykhaylo Mudryk would hand Arsenal a timely boost after their amazing start. And if the Gunners bring in the Ukrainian, they will clearly see him having a huge ceiling.
Unfortunately, Pepe does not have that. So letting him go was surely the right call, even if life would probably be a little easier for Arteta right now if he had another attacking option up his sleeve.
