Nicolas Pepe has said his difficult spell at Arsenal was ‘kind of trauma’ after disappointing following his club-record move to the club.
Arsenal signed Pepe in a record-breaking £72m deal from Lille in 2019 after a spectacular season with the French side but the winger failed to live up to expectations in North London.
He scored 27 goals in 112 games before departing to sign for Trabzonspor on a free transfer after his contract expired at the Emirates.
The Ivory Coast international has admitted the criticism he faced in the Premier League impacted him mentally and said he considered quitting football following a tough time with the Gunners.
“At Arsenal, I had suffered a kind of trauma, as if my passion had been taken away from me, I had a distaste for football,” Pepe told L’Equipe.
“By no longer playing, I wondered why I was doing this job. I doubted to the point that I thought about stopping everything.
“I wondered how they could have attacked me so much. People went so far as to call me the biggest flop in the history of the Premier League!
“I didn’t ask for €80m to be spent on me.”
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