Nicolas Pepe has confirmed he will return to Arsenal in the coming days after spending last season on loan and has rejected claims he is on bad terms with manager Mikel Arteta. The Ivory Coast international joined North London from Lille in 2019 in a club record Ł72m deal but struggled to live up to that price tag and was eventually loaned out to Nice last year, where he scored six goals while injured scoring – a difficult campaign.
Nice has refused to make Pepe's loan move permanent and he will therefore return to parent club Arsenal with the start of pre-season next week.
The 28-year-old is still expected to be sacked this summer, but Pepe has indicated he is ready to fight for his place at the Gunners and insists he has a good relationship with Arteta, despite his previous frustration over a lack of game time. "I'm going back to Arsenal. "I'm on loan with no option to buy so I have to go back to Arsenal," Pepe told Colinterview's YouTube channel.
"I don't know anything about my future yet. When I come back I will talk to the manager and everyone and see what ideas everyone has and then we will make a decision."
On his relationship with Arteta, he continued: "People say he identifies me as a player who is not on the level of his team and his philosophy. That is completely wrong.
"When he arrived, he had the philosophy of Manchester City. He has a quality squad with reinforcements at every position. When he spoke to me he said that he was counting on me, that he wanted me to do this or that and that is what you should focus on. "He improved me in every way. He talks to me all the time, and I keep watching videos with his assistant. He believes in me a lot. He says I have great potential, so we have to live up to that potential.
"At the end of the first season, he spoke to me and told me to do this or that. The second season is coming, I'm a substitute. I'm crazy. How can I be a substitute when he says he's counting on me? it's all in your head.
“I was a substitute for what seemed like ten games. It was around the time they recruited Willian. He's a number 10 or winger. But he played 11 or 12 games in a row on the wing. I turned my head and knew I had spoken to the coach but no. “But it improved in the sense that he gave me a chance, I scored against Sheffield United at the Emirates. Confidence is back. I started to speak better, but a little cold. I started talking to agents, but we didn't see each other like we used to. But things got better.
"It's not true that he labeled me. Not true at all. He helped me in everything, tactically, in terms of game intelligence, because his philosophy requires a lot of intelligence.
“He knows my style of play is not about waiting in possession, but getting inside and not waiting on the right wing. I used to be a little freer. I had to wait in my zone and it didn't happen before. This is part of my game that he is trying to improve. He always wanted to help me with all of this.
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