Thierry Henry and Jose Mourinho have both been proven right about Arsenal winger Nicolas Pepe.
The 25-year-old has been in tremendous form recently - scoring five goals in his last three games for the Gunners, to help Mikel Arteta's side finish the season off strongly.
Arsenal have won their last five Premier League matches - and Pepe has scored in three of them, against West Brom, Crystal Palace and, most recently, Brighton.
The Ivorian winger scored the only two goals of the game as the Gunners capped off their season with a 2-0 win at the Emirates Stadium in front of 10,000 fans.
In the latter stages of the campaign, we've started to see what Pepe can really offer Arteta.
Arsenal completed the signing of Pepe for around £72million in the summer of 2019 and it took a considerable amount of time for the ex-Lille star to settle into life at the Emirates, but it finally looks like he's playing near to his potential.
Gunners icon Henry previously called for patience with the speedy attacker when plenty were questioning Arsenal's decision to sign him.
"When you arrive like that, you're always going to be talked about, and people are always going to target you," Henry said in May 2020.
"He needs to make sure he doesn't listen to that and go out and perform. People need to forget about the price tag. He didn't ask to be bought for that amount of money himself.
"It’s not always easy to arrive in a team, adapt to a new style of play.
"The Premier League, as we know, is not the same as the French League or any other league, by the way. So he needs to adapt to that. We need to give him time."
The message of support from the Frenchman is something that Mourinho has also said in the past, with the former Tottenham boss backing Pepe to be a top player for Arsenal when used in the right system.
"Last season after I left (Manchester) United, I went a few times to Lille because my friend is the coach there [Christophe Galtier] so I know quite a lot about his qualities," Mourinho said on Sky Sports at the beginning of the season.
"They were playing 4-4-2 and he was the right-sided player. He knows how to defend, to play in the 4-4-2 as the right-winger, you know how to defend, not only that area but also the inside.
"He does that very well. When he has the ball and also without the ball, he is very effective and very direct.
"The goals that he misses against Arsenal, he normally doesn’t miss it. He’s very cool in front of the keeper and I think this boy has fantastic potential.
"To play as they did last weekend against Liverpool, was out of his natural habitat.
"If they are to play three in midfield with him, Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang at the front, looking to the movements, I think they can make it a real force."
