Press conference

'Pepe's come a long way, he’s got a good attitude'

Mikel Arteta is pleased with the progress he has seen from Nicolas Pepe ever since he took charge back in December.

Our record signing was at the heart of the action on Tuesday night, creating our opening goal at Leicester and our manager is convinced there is more to come from the Ivorian.

 

"I think he's come a long way," Arteta said. "We know what the club paid for him when he joined and that was obviously an extra pressure but he's a player who's had to adapt, it's a different style.

 

"He has a really good attitude. We can see development in a lot of phases of his game.

 

"He's very settled here, he's liked by the boys, he's a really good character to have around and I'm really positive that we're going to have him for many years and that he can perform at a really high level consistently."

 

Pepe swapped Lille for north London, much like Gabriel - so how has the winger helped the Brazilian centre back settle in?



"I think it's always nice for them to have some compatriots next to them, it obviously makes things a lot easier in the first few months when they cannot speak the language," Arteta said.

 

"I think for both of them they know each other and they've spent some time together now. I think it's a positive thing."