Former Chelsea midfielder Craig Burley believes Nicolas Pepe will have to start scoring goals quickly to justify his he price-tag. Pepe is yet to score for Arsenal after making a club-record move from Lille in the summer transfer window.
Pepe recorded his first assist for the club in their 2-2 draw against Tottenham Hotspur in the north London derby, but has disappointed in front of goal.
The former Lille man had a few openings to score against Liverpool in matchday three of the league, but failed to take his chances as Arsenal eventually lost to the Reds.
The 24-year old had quite a reputation in the Ligue 1 for being a goalscoring winger as he mustered 22 goals last season, and 13 goals the season before that.
While it’s still early days in his Arsenal career, Burley has said that the Ivory Coast international plays in a position where he needs to produce week in week out to prove he is worth the price Arsenal paid for him.
“What I would say is he is overcomplicating it at the moment,” Burley said on the ESPN FC Show.
“The only way he will get to be the player potentially they think he can be is by working and having end product. Because anybody without end product in his position is not worth a carrot.”
Pepe has so far made four appearances for Arsenal since his £72 million move from the Ligue 1 to the Premier League, which made him the third most expensive signing in the league’s history.
He has taken a total of three shots so far, and although he hasn’t scored, he averages 1.5 key passes a game and has managed to make himself a regular in the teamsheet since his first start against Liverpool.
Arsenal will take on Watford after the international break in mid-September, and Pepe will hope to end his goal-scoring drought.
How long does it take for a striker to find his feet (no pun intended) coming from a different league to the EPL? its hard to say, some score on their debut, some need an entire season and others fall somewhere in between, we will know where Pepe fits in as the season progresses.
ONCE YOU HAVE A REPUTATION YOU WILL BE OVERPRICED……..
Certainly expectations naturally weigh heavier on a player with a “higher” price tag and it could become toxic no matter what the player does. Coutinho and Dembele could stroll into any Club or National team for that matter yet from what you read you’d think they are already past their prime. Lukaku cost Everton 28 million Pounds, his score ratio was 1 in 2 and Evertonians basically “worshipped him”. He moved to Man U for 75 million and for all the mean things said about him by Man U legends i.e. “he was not Man U quality etc.” …….up to his being railroaded out of Man U, Lukaku’s 50% strike rate only dipped slightly to 43%. Even Pogba is beginning to feel the heat.
For Pepe the most important ingredients are staying fit, patience and probably remaining completely deaf to the noise and debate around his early season goal scoring form. Yes he comes with a reputation but reputations sometimes need to be rebuilt.
Henry who came to Arsenal as a world cup winner was soon thinking of begging Wenger to let him be the winger he was “born to be” …… It took Henry 8 games or approximately 700minutes to get his first Arsenal goal. Nobody could stop him after that.
We are not saying that Pepe’s experience will be the same as Henry’s, for all we know he may spend the rest of this season hitting air but I think he is too talented to under-perform over his contract duration.
It is extremely difficult to be productive every week no matter your price tag. It takes years, confidence, sustained, fitness, a system that works for you and a little slice of luck plus the coach has to have faith in you no matter what noise is out there. That right I’m talking about you Aguero.