Nicolas Pépé

Nicolas Pépé (born 29 May 1995) is a professional footballer who plays as a right winger or forward for Süper Lig club Trabzonspor. Born in France, he plays for the Ivory Coast national team.

Nicolas Pépé
Pépé playing for Lille in 2019
Personal information
Full name Nicolas Pépé[1]
Date of birth (1995-05-29) 29 May 1995[2]
Place of birth Mantes-la-Jolie, France
Height 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)[3]
Position(s) Right winger, forward
Team information
Current team
 Trabzonspor
Number 29
Youth career
Solitaire Paris Est
Poitiers
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2012–2013 Poitiers 9 (2)
2013–2015 Angers II 41 (9)
2013–2017 Angers 40 (3)
2015–2016 → Orléans (loan) 29 (7)
2017–2019 Lille 74 (35)
2019–2023 Arsenal 80 (16)
2022–2023 → Nice (loan) 19 (6)
2023– Trabzonspor 1 (0)
International career‡
2016– Ivory Coast 37 (10)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 13:08, 24 October 2023 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 19 November 2022

Pépé began his senior club career with Poitiers in the Championnat de France Amateur 2. He signed for Angers in 2013, aged 18, and spent a season on loan at Orléans in 2015. He signed for Lille in 2017, and was named to the UNFP Ligue 1 Team of the Year in the 2018–19 season.[4] That summer, Pépé joined Arsenal for a club-record fee of £72 million, and won the FA Cup in his debut season.[5][6]

Pépé, who was born in France to Ivorian parents, made his debut for the Ivory Coast on 15 November 2016 in a friendly against France.[7] He was selected for the Africa Cup of Nations in 2017, 2019 and 2021.

Club career

Poitiers

Pépé was born in Mantes-la-Jolie, Île-de-France.[8] He started his career originally playing as a goalkeeper for local side Solitaire Paris Est until he was 14 years old.[9] When his father Celestin, a prison guard, was transferred to Poitiers, Pépé began his senior career as an outfield player with Poitiers FC in the Championnat de France Amateur 2 (fifth tier) in 2012–13.[10]

Angers

Pépé signed for Angers in 2013, and spent his first season with the reserves in the CFA 2.

He made his professional debut in the second round of the Coupe de la Ligue in a 2–1 home loss to Arles-Avignon on 26 August 2014, as a 73rd-minute substitute for Yohann Eudeline. His first Ligue 2 match was on 21 November 2014, starting in a 1–1 Ligue 2 draw away to Ajaccio.[11][12]

Orléans (loan)

Pépé was loaned to Orléans for the 2015–16 Championnat National, and helped the club to promotion from the third tier as runners-up.[13] He returned to an Angers side playing in Ligue 1 and which reached the 2017 Coupe de France Final, where he started in a 1–0 loss to Paris Saint-Germain at the Stade de France.[14]

Lille

On 21 June 2017, Pépé signed a five-year deal with Lille, for a maximum transfer fee of €10 million,[15] after being signed by head coach Marcelo Bielsa who had scouted the player by watching footage of every Ligue 1 game he had played in for Angers, before scouting him in person.[16][17] Pépé described Bielsa as "special" and a "great coach".[18] He started the season playing as a striker after being converted into playing the position under Bielsa, before finishing the season under the new Lille head coach Christophe Galtier, playing as a winger.[19]

During the entirety of the 2017–18 Ligue 1 season, he was a regular in a Lille side that narrowly avoided relegation, missing only two games and scoring 13 times, including two apiece in away wins at Metz and Toulouse.[20]

On 15 September 2018, during the 2018–19 Ligue 1 season, Pépé scored a hat-trick, including two penalties, in the 3–2 away win over Amiens.[21] Days later, it was confirmed by club president Gérard Lopez that Barcelona were among several clubs that were interested in signing him.[5] On 14 April 2019, Pépé scored a goal and provided two assists in the 5–1 home win over Paris Saint-Germain.[22] He finished the 2018–19 Ligue 1 season with 22 goals, second only to PSG's Kylian Mbappé,[4] with 11 assists, and was named in the UNFP Team of the Year.[23]

Arsenal

On 1 August 2019, it was announced that Pépé had joined Premier League club Arsenal in a club-record fee of €79 million (£72 million),[6] eclipsing the previous record of €62 million for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Upon signing for Arsenal, he was handed the number 19 shirt.[24]

Pépé made his Arsenal debut in a 1–0 away win over Newcastle United on 11 August, as a substitute for Reiss Nelson in the 71st minute.[25] His first start for the club came two weeks later in a 3–1 loss to Liverpool, in which he played the full 90 minutes.[26] He scored his first Arsenal goal, from the penalty spot, in the team's 3–2 home win over Aston Villa on 22 September.[27] He scored his first European goals in Arsenal's UEFA Europa League 3–2 home win over Vitória de Guimarães on 24 October, two free-kicks.[28]

On 1 January 2020, Pépé scored Arsenal's first goal in a 2–0 home victory over Manchester United, marking new head-coach Mikel Arteta's first win.[29] On 16 February, Pépé scored once and assisted twice in a 4–0 win over Newcastle United.[30] On 28 June, he scored his first FA Cup goal in a 2–1 away win against Sheffield United in the quarter-finals, giving Arsenal the lead in the 25th minute from the penalty spot.[31] On 1 August, he played the whole 90 minutes of the FA Cup Final match against Chelsea to win his first club trophy as an Arsenal player, contributing the assist for Aubameyang's second goal.[32]

On 22 November 2020, Pépé received the first red card of his career in a 0–0 away draw against Leeds United after clashing heads with Ezgjan Alioski in the 51st minute.[33] On 2 February 2021, he beat two defenders before scoring in a game against Wolverhampton Wanderers; that goal was later voted as Goal of the Month for February on Arsenal's official website.[34][35]

On 24 February 2022, Pépé scored his first goal of the 2021–22 Premier League season in a 2–1 win against Wolverhampton with an 82nd-minute strike, and was instrumental in the buildup of forcing an own goal in the 95th minute to cap a late comeback.[36]

Loan to Nice

On 25 August 2022, Pépé joined Ligue 1 club Nice on loan for the remainder of the 2022–23 season without an option to buy.[37]

Trabzonspor

Pépé moved to Süper Lig side Trabzonspor on 8 September 2023.[38] He departed Arsenal on a free transfer, having had one year left on his contract.[38]

International career

Pépé was born in France to Ivorian parents. He received a call up to the Ivory Coast national team in November 2016, and was an unused substitute in the goalless draw away to Morocco in 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification on 12 November.[39] He made his debut three days later in a friendly of the same score against his birth nation, France, at the Stade Bollaert-Delelis in Lens, playing the final four minutes in place of Max-Alain Gradel.[7]

Pépé was named in Michel Dussuyer's 23-man squad for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon, but took no part as the Elephants were eliminated in the group stage.[40]

On 24 March 2018, in a friendly against Togo in France, Pépé scored his first international goals in the first half of a 2–2 draw.[41] He followed it three days later, with another goal in a 2–1 win against Moldova in the same stadium.[42]

Pépé was called up for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt.[43] He was absent from their quarter-final penalty shootout defeat by Algeria, having been dropped for Max Alain Gradel due to a lack of form.[44]

Style of play

Pépé is known as a quick and skilled attacking winger who is comfortable on both flanks, but usually plays on the right wing cutting onto his left foot; he was also converted from playing in wide positions by former Lille head coach Marcelo Bielsa to play as a striker on either the inside or central channel.[19][45]

Media

Pépé was involved in the Amazon Original sports docuseries All or Nothing: Arsenal, which documented the club by spending time with the coaching staff and players behind the scenes both on and off the field throughout their 2021–22 season.[46][47]

Career statistics

Club
As of match played 20 April 2023[48][49]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National cup[lower-alpha 1] League cup[lower-alpha 2] Europe Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Poitiers 2012–13 Championnat de France Amateur 2 92———92
Angers II 2013–14 Championnat de France Amateur 2 193———193
2014–15 Championnat de France Amateur 2 226———226
Total 4190000—419
Angers 2014–15 Ligue 2 70—10—80
2016–17 Ligue 1 3335010—393
Total 4035020—473
Orléans (loan) 2015–16 Championnat National 2972110—328
Lille 2017–18 Ligue 1 361321——3814
2018–19 Ligue 1 38223110—4223
Total 74355210—8037
Arsenal 2019–20 Premier League 31551006[lower-alpha 3]2428
2020–21 Premier League 2910203013[lower-alpha 3]64716
2021–22 Premier League 2010032—233
Total 8016716219811227
Nice (loan) 2022–23 Ligue 1 19610—8[lower-alpha 4]2288
Trabzonspor 2023–24 Süper Lig 0000——00
Career total 29278204102271034994
  1. Includes Coupe de France, FA Cup
  2. Includes Coupe de la Ligue, EFL Cup
  3. Appearances in UEFA Europa League
  4. Appearances in UEFA Europa Conference League

International
As of match played 19 November 2022[50]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
Ivory Coast 201610
201760
201843
201992
202040
202141
202294
Total3710
As of match played 16 November 2022
Scores and results list Ivory Coast's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Pépé goal[50]
List of international goals scored by Nicolas Pépé
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
124 March 2018Stade Pierre Brisson, Beauvais, France Togo1–02–2Friendly
22–0
327 March 2018Stade Pierre Brisson, Beauvais, France Moldova2–02–1Friendly
423 March 2019Stade Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Abidjan, Ivory Coast Rwanda1–03–02019 Africa Cup of Nations qualification
513 October 2019Stade de la Licorne, Amiens, France DR Congo2–03–1Friendly
611 October 2021Stade de l'Amitie, Cotonou, Benin Malawi1–02–12022 FIFA World Cup qualification
716 January 2022Japoma Stadium, Douala, Cameroon Sierra Leone2–12–22021 Africa Cup of Nations
820 January 2022Japoma Stadium, Douala, Cameroon Algeria3–03–12021 Africa Cup of Nations
925 March 2022Stade Vélodrome, Marseille, France France1–01–2Friendly
1016 November 2022Stade de Marrakech, Marrakesh, Morocco Burundi4–04–0Friendly

Honours

Arsenal

Individual

References
  1. "Cote d'Ivoire" (PDF). Confederation of African Football. 15 June 2019. p. 7. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
  2. "Nicolas Pépé: Overview". ESPN. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
  3. "Nicolas Pépé". Lille OSC. Archived from the original on 25 April 2019. Retrieved 17 August 2019.
  4. Dunn, Connor (19 June 2019). "The amazing statistics that prove Nicolas Pepe could've been perfect transfer for Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
  5. Marsden, Sam (22 September 2018). "Barcelona interest in Nicolas Pepe confirmed by Lille president". ESPN. Retrieved 30 January 2019.
  6. "Nicolas Pepe completes move to Arsenal from Lille for club-record £72m". Sky Sports. 2 August 2019. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
  7. "Friendlies 2014–16 – France-Ivory Coast". UEFA. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
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  10. Holyman, Ian (1 August 2019). "Nicolas Pepe to Arsenal: Who is the £72m Gunners signing and how will he fit in?". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
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  13. "FOOTBALL L'ancien Poitevin Nicolas Pépé monte en Ligue 2 avec Orléans" [FOOTBALL Former Poitiers player Nicolas Pépé promoted to Ligue 2 with Orléans]. Centre-Presse (in French). 5 June 2016. Retrieved 30 January 2019.
  14. "Angers 0–1 Paris Saint Germain". BBC Sport. 27 May 2017. Retrieved 30 January 2019.
  15. "Nicolas Pépé et Hervé Koffi signent au Losc pour cinq ans (off.)" [Nicolas Pépé and Hervé Koffi sign for LOSO for five years (official)]. L'Équipe (in French). 21 June 2017. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
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  33. |title=Leeds United 0-0 Arsenal: Nicolas Pepe sent off in goalless draw|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/54948353
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