'He was okay': Darren Bent says attacker who left the Emirates for free was really 'harshly treated' at Arsenal

Arsenal have been on an upward trajectory over the past couple of seasons and have seemingly transformed their squad under Mikel Arteta.

Most of the players currently at the club have either been signed by the Spaniard or made their names under him, which is proof that this is very much his squad.

Arteta has overhauled his squad since replacing Unai Emery at the helm in 2019, with several players who were signed by his predecessors being offloaded for sizable losses.

One such player is Nicolas Pepe, who left the club for free last summer despite arriving as the club’s record signing in 2019.

And Darren Bent believes the Ivory Coast international wasn’t as bad as he was made out to be.

Darren Bent defends Nicolas Pepe’s Arsenal career

The Gunners splashed £72m to sign Pepe from Lille after his exploits with the Ligue 1 club and flattered to deceive at the Emirates Stadium as he struggled with injuries and inconsistency.

He was sent out on loan to Nice for the 2022-23 season to recapture his best, but that wasn’t to be the case as he joined Trabzonspor on a free transfer last summer.

Bent says Pepe’s numbers at Arsenal are not nearly as bad as Antony’s and Jadon Sancho’s at Manchester United as he launched a staunch defence of the former Arsenal man.

“If you look at Pepe’s stats compared to Antony and Sancho’s combined. He was still okay, he wasn’t rubbish,” Bent said on talkSPORT.

“He was okay. Listen, his stats are better than Sancho and Antony. I am talking about two players – that’s combined. He was okay. I think he was harshly treated because of the price tag.”

Analysing Pepe’s Arsenal career

Pepe made just 112 appearances for Arsenal in all competitions and notched up 27 goals and 21 assists at the club.

For a player who arrived as the club’s record signing, those numbers simply aren’t good enough.

Arteta said it just didn’t work out for Pepe at the club and refused to dwell on what could have been after offloading him last summer.

The Ivorian made a rather startling admission earlier this year which showed just how difficult things got for him at Arsenal.

Pepe admitted that he fell out of love with football while he was at the club, although he admitted that the Arsenal fans always backed him.

The 29-year-old is now at Villarreal after a failed stint with Trabzonspor and will look to get his faltering career back on track in Spain.

​