Mikel Arteta still has a huge problem to solve with Nicolas Pepe, nearly three years after Roy Keane gave a brutal assessment of Arsenal's record signing.
Pepe remains Arsenal 's record signing, and by some considerable margin after he arrived from Lille for £72million, surpassing the fees paid for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette. But the winger has been a complete flop, and it even linked with a move elsewhere this summer for a fraction of the price.
Arteta spoke about how Pepe had returned from the Africa Cup of Nations as a 'different player' at the start of the year. But he has failed to build off that, and Keane's assessment of the winger is still true to this day.
Back in 2019, it was a sign of things to come as Pepe was taken off against Manchester United after a poor display, and youngster Bukayo Saka came on and made the most of his introduction. Saka was just 17 then, but the England international is without the first-choice option in 2022.
It's credit to Saka that he is ahead of the club record signing, but Pepe can't get in ahead of any of the attacking stars at Arsenal, and perhaps needs a change of scene. But even after Pepe first came to Arsenal, Keane was far from impressed as he noticed his poor body language.
"Disappointed really with him, since he's come to the club he's not had great body language," said Keane on Sky Sports in 2019. "We make excuses for players a lot, it takes time to settle into a club.
"But you see this young kid tonight [Saka], Pepe compared to him for the money they paid he needs to do a lot more. His work rate, his lack of quality, end product, but again it's his body language. He didn't put up a fight tonight."
If there's one thing that Keane can't stand, it's a lack of desire and work-rate. But Pepe has barely shown that since making the big-money move to Arsenal.
But although his future at the club looked to be only going one way, there was renewed hope from Arteta after Pepe came back from AFCON duty with Ivory Coast. Upon his return, Arteta said: "Since he has come back from AFCON I think I have seen a different Nico as well.
"I don’t know what it is, probably he has realised the importance of the end of the season for him. He had a brilliant end of the season last year. He can replicate that. We need him at his best because everybody is going to contribute.
"We are a really short squad at the moment and we need it and hopefully he has understood that we want to play him. I don’t want to have a player like him sitting on the bench and not using him and the moment I have chances, I want to give him a chance."
But Pepe has had few chances, partly due to the brilliance of the rest of Arteta's squad, but also due to a lack of effort on his part. He has been linked with a summer exit, with some reports suggesting he could leave for just £25m, as Arsenal prepare to take a huge hit.
