Arsenal boss Emery happy he missed out on Zaha – because Pepe is the better investment
Sponsored by
UNAI EMERY is glad he missed out on Wilfried Zaha because he feels Nicolas Pepe will be a better long-term investment.
Arsenal made a £40million bid for Zaha in the summer but their offer was instantly rejected by Crystal Palace, who wanted at least double that for their star forward.
But that valuation was way too much for Arsenal, who instead forked out a club-record £72million to sign Zaha’s Ivorian international team-mate Pepe from Lille.
And while Emery is convinced he eventually got the best deal, he is still wary of Zaha’s desire to prove a point to him tomorrow.
The Arsenal boss has not forgotten how Zaha helped to destroy his Champions League dreams when Palace won 3-2 at the Emirates in April.
That heralded a late Prem collapse, which saw Arsenal miss out on the top four by a point.
Emery said: “Zaha is a very good player and we know he has been the difference in a lot of the matches he has played against us.
“He is coming to the Emirates very motivated and our challenge now is to find a way to stop him.
“But we have the players with the capacity to impose our quality on the game and organise themselves to make Zaha play worse than he usually does.”
Zaha, 26, is two years older than Pepe and has not scored all season for Palace since being denied his dream move.
But Pepe is finally starting to pay off his mammoth transfer fee and scored two late free-kicks in Thursday’s 3-2 Europa League win against Vitoria Guimaraes.
And Emery said: “We signed Pepe not for two months or two years but for a long-term process and little by little his performances are getting better.
“Now we are looking for him to help us with his quality again on Sunday and I think he will be more confident after these two goals.
“It will be good for him to be part of a difficult match like Thursday night and to come through with a victory.
“This club follows a lot of players all around the world because we have a very good scouting system to identify possible signings.
“We are very happy with Pepe but we are also waiting for more from him because he has been playing under a lot of pressure.
“So we need to be calm with him, to help and protect him.”
Pepe admits he has struggled to make an impact but hopes that Thursday’s game will prove to be a turning point for him.
He said: “I knew that coming to England would be harder for me than to be playing in the French league because the intensity of the football is totally different here.
“I am not yet at my best physically because I was at the African Nations Cup in the summer and didn’t have a proper pre-season like the other players.
“I am working hard to be physically stronger and I have had to adapt quickly as expectations were so high when I signed.
“Unfortunately it’s not what I did at the beginning but I have always had the trust of the manager and the players always supported me.
“The key to adapting is having good people around you and I am fortunate to have my family here.
“It was always going to be difficult for me to come here into the unknown with a different language, so I rely a lot on my family.
“They have been very good for me mentally, especially when things were not going so well.”
Now Pepe is planning to hold discussions with close pal Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang over who will be on future set-piece duties.
Prior to Thursday’s game, Pepe had scored just once for Arsenal when Aubameyang generously let him take a penalty in last month’s 3-2 win over Aston Villa.
Pepe added: “Scoring two goals is great for my confidence.
“But Auba has also scored a free-kick this season and now we will talk to decide who will take them when we are both playing.
“He let me take the penalty and as soon as I arrived at Arsenal he helped me settle in along with Alex Lacazette and Matteo Guendouzi.
Latest Arsenal news
“Myself, Auba and Laca have played very little together so far, maybe around just 30 minutes.
“Now Laca is back from injury I hope we will play more together because we get on very well.
“We are all French so we understand each other but it’s important for me to learn English so I can begin to communicate with everyone.”
