Arsenal sporting director Edu made it clear last year that he was keen to move on high-earning players who were underperforming - just like ex-record signing Nicolas Pepe
13:32, 10 Sep 2023Updated 15:42, 10 Sep 2023
Arsenal have parted ways with Nicolas Pepe after agreeing to terminate the winger's contract - four years after signing him for a then-record £72million fee.
Pepe, 28, arrived at the Emirates to palpable excitement in the summer of 2019 after tearing up Ligue 1 with Lille, but he struggled to make any sort of impact in the Premier League.
Pepe has become an increasingly peripheral figure at the club and spent last season on loan at OGC Nice. Whilst Pepe was free to leave the Gunners for good this summer, a transfer failed to materialise before the English transfer window shut last week. However, he has now completed a move elsewhere after tearing up the final year of his contract.
The winger has officially linked up with Trabzonspor, signing a one-year contract with the option for a further year. And while the Turkish club have landed Pepe without paying a transfer fee, Arsenal have taken a financial hit after reaching an agreement for the forward to leave the club 12 months early.
Prior to his temporary switch to Nice last summer, Arsenal have, in recent seasons, struggled to offload him to suitors in the market.
Those frustrations were laid bare by Edu, the club's sporting director, during pre-season last year where he heavily implied that high-earning players who weren't being selected, like Pepe, were still reluctant to move on from the club.
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Speaking last July, Edu said: "If a guy is performing and has a big salary, that's not a problem. When the player is 26-plus, big salary and he's not performing, he's killing you. You don't have a valuation to sell the player, the player is comfortable — Arsenal, London, beautiful, everything is fantastic — and a good salary.
"How many players with that kind of characteristics did we have in the past? 80 per cent of the squad. Try to avoid one more year with the problem in the dressing room. Take it out. Even if you have to pay because that guy is sometimes blocking someone."
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While Edu didn't specifically name-drop Pepe, the winger certainly met the criteria that the Brazilian outlined after arriving for big money during the reign of Unai Emery.
The Evening Standard claims that Arsenal still have around £10m to pay on the initial deal for Pepe after spreading the cost of the deal over his five-year contract. Pepe scored just 27 goals in 112 appearances for the Gunners during his ill-fated stint at the Emirates.
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