Were Arsenal right to pick Nicolas Pepe over Wilfried Zaha?

Nicolas Pepe and Wilfried Zaha

Were Arsenal right to pick Nicolas Pepe over Wilfried Zaha?

by Josh Graham

We’ve all made 50:50 calls that have backfired. 

But should Arsenal regret making Nicolas Pepe the club’s £72million record signing from Lille in 2019 when they had the chance to land boyhood Gooner and Crystal Palace star Wilfried Zaha? 

The 28-year-old has another chance to show the Gunners what they are missing when the two sides face off at Selhurst Park tonight.

Arsenal messed up by overlooking Zaha 


Zaha previously revealed how ex-Arsenal boss Unai Emery told him the club were interested in bringing him to North London, something he wanted to happen, before he was overlooked in favour of his Ivory Coast teammate. 

He told Jamie Carragher's Greatest Game podcast: "He said he had seen me play; he knows I can change games at any time. 

"He was like, 'yeah we’d love to have you' and I was just like 'yeah, I would love to come'.  

"Obviously it was up to the club who they chose and they chose Pepe over me." 

It’s fair to say Pepe has failed to live up to his huge price tag at the Emirates, scoring 11 goals in 58 Premier League appearances and falling behind wonderkid Bukayo Saka in Mikel Arteta's pecking order.

On the other hand, Zaha is a proven Premier League performer who would have had no trouble slotting straight into the Gunners line-up and is arguably playing some of the best football of his career after smashing home 11 goals in 28 league games in this campaign. 

Surely Arsenal would have been better off letting Zaha shine on a bigger stage, having learnt the lessons from his failed stint at Manchester United as a youngster, rather than forking out all that money for Pepe to largely just warm the bench. 

Pepe could continue on an upward curve given more time  


Having said that, Pepe has shown glimmers of hope that he could kick on and prove to be a good signing with Arteta revealing in May that he has "come a long way in the last few months". 

He scored a penalty against Emery’s Villarreal in the first leg of the Europa League semi-final tie this season which despite the defeat must have felt good given how the Spaniard publicly revealed he personally preferred Zaha.  

And there is no doubt Pepe has improved on a lacklustre first season, especially in Europe where he found starts easier to come by and produced six goals and four assists in just 13 games.  

If he can translate his form on the continent into the domestic scene there’s no reason Pepe should not be a regular starter under Arteta. 

Pepe or Zaha? 


We will never know how Zaha would have fared at Arsenal but it’s unlikely he could have had much less of an impact than Pepe.  

If one moment sums up Pepe’s Gunners career so far it was the inexplicable headbutt against Leeds that earned him a straight red card in November last year. 

An instantly regrettable choice. Arguably like the one that brought him to the club in the first place.


Photo credit: Getty Images

Popular posts from this blog

What have we learned from Arsenal's pre-season so far?

Image
  Arsenal – what have we learned from pre-season? By Jack Lacey-Hatton It only feels five minutes since Euro 2020, but incredibly we are just one week away from the new Premier League season starting. Arsenal will travel to newly promoted Brentford for a London derby in front of a noisy crowd next Friday night, not the easiest of starts to the new campaign. But what sort of shape are Mikel Arteta’s side in, going into what could be a defining season for the manager? We took a close look at what we have learnt from the pre-season period and what kind of shape the squad are in.   The new signings are ready to go It has been a mixed transfer window so far. Some fans would have expected more both leaving and arriving at the Emirates stadium over the summer. But positives can be taken - Ben White has arrived from Brighton for £50million, and highly-rated full back Nuno Tavares has come in from Benfica. Albert Sambi Lokonga completes the 2021 summer singings so far. Cruc...
Read more

Transfer Profile: Ruben Neves

Image
Transfer Profile: Ruben Neves By Jonny Bray It is hard to believe that Ruben Neves is still only 25-years-old.   It feels as if the Portuguese international has been tipped for big things for nearly a decade now.  With the midfielder out of contract in 2023, it appears his time at Wolverhampton Wanderers could be coming to an end.  Understandably, with a player like Neves on offer for a reduced price, clubs around Europe are queueing up to secure the international's signature.  So, after all this time, should Arsenal move for Ruben Neves now, or is it time for the Gunners to turn their attention to a new target?  What would he bring?  Arsenal do not have enough defensive midfielders.  Martin Ødegaard, Emile Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka give Mikel Arteta plenty of midfield options going forward, but the Gunners have been found lacking when out of possession this season. Thomas Partey has been in and out of the side due to injuries, a fact that has not hel...
Read more

Where will Arsenal finish this season?

Image
Where will Arsenal finish this season? By Alec McQuarrie Arsenal have made steady improvement over the last few seasons under Mikel Arteta. After finishing 8th in his debut season, the Spaniard oversaw a five-point improvement in his first full campaign.  And last year an eight-point leap followed, which was unfortunately not enough to pip Tottenham to fourth place.  Cruelly, the 69 points accumulated would have been enough to seal Champions League qualification in the previous two seasons.  Looking at the trajectory over the Arteta era, it would be fair to assume a continued improvement this coming season.  After all, with five signings already secured this summer and Alexandre Lacazette the sole first-team player to depart, surely fourth place should be a bare minimum expectation.  Oleksandr Zinchenko offers much-needed cover at left-back and competition for central midfield.  Gabriel Jesus is a proven goalscorer and brings a tireless work-ethic to fulfil...
Read more