Arsenal legend Thierry Henry has defended summer signing Nicolas Pepe after his slow start to life at the Emirates Stadium
Pepe was signed in a club record deal worth £73million in the summer, but he has only scored one goal with two assists which has led to some questioning his place in Unai Emery's side.
Henry knows that feeling after taking time to find his feet in north London, after signing from Juventus in 1998. He failed to score in his first eight games but went on to become the club's record goalscorer with 228 goals.
Speaking to Yahoo Sport, Henry jumped to the defence of the winger saying that he needs more time to adapt at the club.
"When you arrive like that, you're always going to be talked about, and people are always going to target you," Henry said.
"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."
Henry believes that Pepe is not to blame but that the whole Arsenal team have disappointed.
"People like to highlight the player but if the team were playing a bit better, maybe he would be playing a bit better," Henry added.
"At the minute, it's not a Pepe thing, it's an Arsenal thing. Hopefully he and the team can get better so we can get in the top four again."
