Although Nicolas Pepe's Arsenal career appears to be over, the Gunners still have a vested interest in hoping the Ivorian plays well while he's back in Ligue 1.
Pepe arrived in the summer of 2019 amid much excitement as Arsenal's record signing for a fee of £72 million from Lille. However, he failed to ever make a consistent impression across three years in North London. There were multiple reasons for this, such as a change in manager, the emergence of Bukayo Saka, the language barrier, COVID lockdown and a lack of European games to prove himself.
But when last season came to a close, it was no surprise when talk began to emerge that he was no longer part of Mikel Arteta's plans.
Months of speculation finally came to an end when Pepe secured a loan move to Nice for the remainder of the season towards the end of August, and despite some reports to the contrary, football.london understands that there is no obligation to buy included in the deal. There will be just 12 months remaining on the 27-year-old's contract next summer and as a result, there will be a hope that he can impress over in France to help Edu recoup some of the humungous fee they've paid for him.
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It's been a decent start so far for Pepe. Alongside former Gunner Aaron Ramsey, he is part of a new look Nice squad that includes plenty of Premier League experience in players like Kasper Schmeichel, Joe Bryan, Mads Beck Sorensen, Morgan Schneiderlin and Ross Barkely. He has been faced with adapting the demands of new manager Lucien Favre's constant formation chopping and changing but so far he has coped well.
The highlight of his career so far with Les Aiglons undoubtedly came in the 2-1 victory over his former side Lille earlier in this campaign. Pepe was fouled in the box before stepping up to convert a match-winning penalty that up until Sunday had helped Nice to their only three points of the season.
However, with an impressive performance against AC Ajaccio at the weekend, he was able to help Nice claim a second win of the campaign which has moved them up to 12th in Ligue 1. While it wasn't the most enthralling of matches, Pepe was probably the most consistent threat on the pitch, causing problems down the right with his dribbling (completing four on the day) and even hitting the woodwork on one occasion.
In a match of low quality where Andy Delort's bicycle kick was required to win the game, Pepe was given man of the match by WhoScored.com.
There were still familiar issues in the 27-year-old's game as he was dispossessed on three occasions, a fact that would likely have frustrated Arteta if he had done that in an Arsenal team. However, as he starts to feel his way into a new club, the first signs are positive for Pepe.
While Nice still certainly have problems in their side, Pepe's promising individual early performances will be music to the ears of the Arsenal executives for whom the Ivorian is still probably one of their most saleable assets.
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