Indeed it’s exciting that we’re signing a player for 80 mil euros, but from what I have seen of Pepe, can’t say he’s a 80m player. 40% of his goals last season came from pens. And his game is all about pace. The majority of his videos on youtube shows him running at defender in counter attack situations with massive space. Doubt that he will have that much room to breathe in the PL, especially when he plays in the dominant team with the opponent defending deep.
I know people don’t want to be reminded about this, but a certain Ivorian also moved to Arsenal after 2 good seasons from Lille (at the age of 24 as well). Bizarrely they share similar style of play and if you remove the pens, similar stats as well
I actually said something to the same effect in late May because Sarr has almost the same stats as Pepe when u take out the pens, plus he’s younger. So we will see, hopefully Pepe will just smash it and it won’t matter. Pepe is the hot name so Arsenal won the transfer window but yeh there’s a little concern because last season was really his breakout and he’s never produced like that before. Hopefully he just gets better from here.
Sarr has 8 goals and 6 assists while Pepe has 13 non-pen goals and 11 assists so it’s not really the same, plus Pepe earned those pens mostly by himself so we have to credit him for that too. The player who shares similar stats with Pepe I was talking about is Gervinho and we all know that even the 2011 Gervinho wouldn’t worth 80 mil today.
For Pepe, from his style of play I’d at least expect him to earn us some pens next season. Other than that his impact will massively depend on how we play. If we take control of possession and the other teams defend deep, I doubt that he will be more useful than, say a Walcott. But if we play on the counter he will be lethal.
Maybe my first post about him gives a negative vibe . Overall I definitely think Pepe will improve us but can’t say that he will be better than, for examples, the likes of Neres. Lozano or Ziyech who would surely go for less .
People made the same argument against Lacazette when he was linked to Arsenal. Except they also thought he was too slow.
And Pepe is not Gervinho. He’s Pepe. You can’t legitimately just look at stats and say they’re the same player just because certain stats are similar. There are so many other factors. Besides, their stats weren’t even that similar anyway if you go deeper.
Didn’t Pepe also win most of those pens though? Pepe’s nothing like Gervinho, other than sharing the same heritage and pace. One has world class technique, first touch and shooting ability, the other is well Gervinho.
I was talking about all competitions. If you count the Europa League for Sarr he and Pepe played about the same amount of minutes (200 more for Ismaila) and Sarr ended up with 12 goals 10 assists, none of which were penalties. Pepe as u said, would be at 13 goals 11 assists without the pens.
And btw yes I knew u were talking about Gervinho but as already covered, that’s as asinine comparison.
I’m sorry but I can’t see how Sarr can emulate Pepe. Sarr’s game is way too raw and clumsy. Pepe has amazing technique and has shown great brains in his game last season. Hopefully though, Watford can get Sarr over the line so we can see how he does in the Prem.
First and foremost, Arsenal look like they might have more money to spend this summer than was reported at the end of the season.
Sky Sports News reporter Kaveh Solhekol gave an insight earlier this month when he said on the Transfer Talk show: "What I have been told is that it suits Arsenal that people think they only have £45m, because when they get into negotiations over a player, the selling club is going to think Arsenal don’t have much money.
"What I have been told is that this is a bit of a smokescreen… We just have to take it with a pinch of salt that Arsenal only have £45m. They are one of the biggest clubs in the world."
. Overall I definitely think Pepe will improve us but can’t say that he will be better than, for examples, the likes of Neres. Lozano or Ziyech who would surely go for less .