After spending the majority of pre-season away from the rest of the squad, the Ivorian has now been posting pictures from London Colney on his Instagram story, suggesting that he is indeed back at Arsenal.
However, while Pepe may be back at Colney, it sounds as though he is still some way away from getting back into the first-team fold.
Indeed, there have been whispers that Pepe is still training away from the rest of the squad, and, speaking on the Handbrake Off Podcast, Ian Stone has stated that he’s also heard that Pepe is training alone at Colney.
Stone shared what he’s heard about Pepe.
“Nicolas Pepe is back training with the squad. Would you keep him as an option this season? He’s training alone is what I heard, which sounds so grim,” Stone said.
So Nicolas Pépé is apparently back at Arsenal but is training alone in a LOSC Lille shirt?? pic.twitter.com/ShJHa5vW6Q
— Dean James (@DeanJamesAFC) July 7, 2023
🚨🎙️ Ian Stone on Nicolas Pepe: “Nicolas Pepe is back training with the squad. Would you keep him as an option this season? He’s training alone is what I heard, which sounds so grim,”(handbrake off via tbr) pic.twitter.com/SbwuEa0HWb
— afcsphere (@afcsphere) August 23, 2023
What a waste
A £72m signing on £140k-a-week, and Pepe is still training on his own, we can only state the obvious when saying that the winger is an enormous waste of money.
Pepe never lived up to expectations at Arsenal, and now, it looks as though his time at the club is coming to an end.
Of course, if he does manage to do something in these individual training sessions to impress, perhaps there is a chance of re-integration, but, in all honesty, that’s looking massively unlikely.
Pepe’s time at Arsenal has to be classified as a bit of a disaster, and we can only hope that he’s able to rebuild his career somewhere else and get back to the level he once showed at Lille before joining Arsenal.
