Arsenal: You have to give Nicolas Pepe time to be a complete waste

Arsenal’s new signing has been strongly criticized and even dubbed a complete waste, but he can’t be a complete waste until he has enough time to do so.

Nicolas Pepe scored his first Arsenal goal against Aston Villa in his sixth ever match with the club, which puts him ahead of Denis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry, among others, in the fastest to their respective first goals. Granted, it was a penalty, but still.

Yet there are some who still see Nicolas Pepe as a complete and total waste. The voices are numerous and annoyingly so. Some say that he was a waste of money because Bukayo Saka could do everything Pepe is doing and he obviously wouldn’t have cost anything.

Pepe now has a goal and two two assists in 455 minutes with the club between Premier League and Europa League, and it’s not the biggest return. Which is where this “he’s a complete waste” logic comes into it.

Here’s the thing though. You can’t be a complete and total waste until you’re given the time to be so. Gervinho wasn’t a complete and total waste until about a year into his tenure. And even then, calling him a total waste, may be a bit unfair.

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Obviously Pepe is going to need to settle, to get his bearings, to truly feel his way around where he fits at the club, but we’re seeing the improvements we want to see. The improvements we need to see. He’s still dribbling well, he’s creating a lot of chances, he just needs to sort out that final ball (flashbacks of Alex Iwobi…) and everything will start to pan out.

We will start to figure out what his value to the club is, and I don’t think he will be disappointed. He’s got too much talent to be a complete flop, and I have the utmost confidence in that assessment, which doesn’t feel brazen at all.

Of course, if that time comes and goes and Pepe still hasn’t panned out, and he’s only got a handful of goal contributions, well, then we can properly dub him a waste, and not worth the price. But until that time, it’s far too soon to throw any sort of “complete and total” anything on him. Way too soon.

Hopefully it’s a happier pronouncement at the end of the year, going into next year, than “complete and total waste,” but we can’t do anything until we see more of him.