Nicolas Pepe gives honest verdict on 'difficult' Arsenal spell

Arsenal confirmed that Nicolas Pepe has left the Emirates Stadium following the termination of his contract last week

Pepe's exit means that the Gunners will save millions in wages, with Spotrac claiming that Pepe was paid £7.28million per year during his time at the Emirates Stadium. Arsenal sporting director Edu will be happy to trim the wage bill, previously making it no secret of his desire to have a sustainable salary structure.

Now, Pepe has opened up his time at Arsenal after signing for Trabzonspor earlier this month. “My first season at Arsenal went well,” Pepe said in an interview this week.

“Maybe the first season benefited me a lot, it challenged me a little mentally. We achieved success in this first season and won trophies.

“The second season was much better in terms of adaptation and statistics, I performed better, but the third season was a bit complicated. I had to respect the coach’s choice throughout this season.

“Not having played is a complicated and difficult enough situation for a player. In the fourth season, I was loaned. It went well in the beginning and until mid-season. I was injured in the middle of this season - this injury then started to complicate things.”

“I haven’t played a match for four months due to an injury to my knee,” he continued. “One thing is certain, I am ready to play. My injury did not cause any decrease in me physically. When you leave the field and move away from the field, you lose rhythm, that’s for sure, but now we are starting training again."

Looking ahead to his new start in Turkey, Pepe said: “Our first priority right now will be to catch the rhythm in order to stay on the field for 90 minutes. We will discuss this issue with the technical team. I don’t decide whether I should play or not. The opinion of the medical team is also important.”