DBasia.news – Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta’s patience with attacker Nicolas Pepe seems to have vanished. Arteta warned Pepe that his adaptation period at Arsenal is up.
Arteta added that currently there is no reason for Pepe not to appear neatly.
Pepe was brought in by Arsenal in 2019-2020. The Ivorian player was redeemed from Lille for 80 million euros. Even though he had been redeemed with a high price, Pepe has failed to contribute.
This season Pepe has played 39 games for Arsenal with a report card scoring of 10 goals and five assists. Many think Pepe has failed to shine with Arsenal because of his difficulty in adapting.
Arteta is said to be furious with Pepe’s performance. Arteta assessed that the problem is not adaptation, which has been running for two seasons. But Pepe’s limiting factor is mindset.
“Nico has the ability. It depends on him, we can help him as much as we want, but he must have the right mindset and consistency to do what he can,” said Arteta as quoted by the Mirror.
“He just needs to change his mindset. He needs a period of adaptation and it’s gone now.”
That’s why Arteta doesn’t want to hear Pepe make adaptation a problem anymore. Pepe now has to start showing some good form.
“So we can’t rely on (reason) for adaptation anymore, now it’s about performance and he can do it,” continued Arteta.
“He’s got all the coaching staff and all the team-mates who like him because he’s the kind of person to like. So there’s no excuse.”