Former Liverpool forward, John Barnes, has said he felt sorry for Arsenal winger, Nicolas Pepe, amid the player’s struggles at the North London club.
Barnes stated this ahead of Arsenal’s Premier League tie with Fulham on Saturday.
Pepe has spent three seasons at Arsenal, during which he has struggled to cope with the speed and physicality of the Premier League and the pressures of playing for a top club like the Gunners.
The Ivorian joined Arsenal for a club-record fee of £72 million on the back of an incredible 2018-19 campaign with Lille, during which he scored 22 goals in 38 Ligue 1 appearances for the club.
The 27-year-old is keen to leave Arsenal this summer on loan this summer after falling down the pecking order in Mikel Arteta’s squad.
And Barnes believes things didn’t work out for Pepe as ‘he went into an Arsenal team that was struggling’.
“That is why I feel sorry for Pepe, for example. He came with a big reputation and for a lot of money. He went into an Arsenal team that was struggling.
“Now he’s struggling because it didn’t work for him,” Barnes told Bonuscodebets