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Football London
Football London
Sport
Lee Wilmot

What Marcelo Bielsa has said about Nicolas Pepe and his huge £72m price tag at Arsenal

Nicolas Pepe arrived at Arsenal in the summer to much fanfare.

He was, of course, the club's new record signing at £72million.

The Ivorian has yet to show his true quality in an Arsenal shirt so far, but is starting to show signs of the quality that encouraged the Gunners to shell out such a huge sum on him.

Pepe opened the scoring in the 2-0 win over Manchester United - Mikel Arteta's first triumph as head coach - and it was his fifth goal of the season, although only his third in the Premier League.

Mikel Arteta on Arsenal's January transfer plans

The 24-year-old will be hoping to gather momentum in the first team by earning a place in the starting XI for the FA Cup third round clash with Leeds United on Monday night.

And if he does he will come up against a familiar face.

Marcelo Bielsa is the head coach at Elland Road and the Argentinian signed Pepe for Lille in 2017.

Bielsa was asked about Pepe's arrival at Arsenal and the huge price tag on his shoulders during his pre-match press conference on Saturday.

Speaking to Leeds Live , he said: "Pepe is a great player with big resources and is a goalscorer.

"And he’s a player who is able to unbalance a match. He has obvious skills, then you have all of these skills in one player, the value is £70million. It’s just a matter of time and after you show those skills. He has showed them clearly and after the price has linked what he has shown on the pitch.

"One thing is to have the skills, another is to have the skills and show it on the pitch. He does both. He has clearly shown his skills and is at club he deserves to be."

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