My passion for football left while I was at Arsenal, I nearly quit football – Nicolas Pepe

Former Arsenal and Ivory Coast winger, Nicolas Pepe has finally opened up about his time at North London club, Arsenal, saying that he was traumatized while there.

The Ivorian suggested he almost quit the sport because people were attacking him so angrily while he was playing for the Premier League club.

Recall that Pepe experienced a lack of game time under Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta.

Pepe spent time on loan at French Ligue 1 club Nice, after which Arsenal terminated his contract.

The 29-year-old later joined Turkish outfit Trabzonspor.

“I suffered a kind of trauma with Arsenal. It was as though they had taken away my passion for football,” Pepe told L’Equipe.

“I felt disgusted by the game. I was no longer playing, and I asked myself why I was doing this job.

“I felt so many doubts and thought about packing it all in. I asked myself why people were attacking me so angrily.

“They went as far as calling me the biggest flop in Premier League history. But I refused to mope about it.

“I wanted something different when I left Arsenal last summer, and I didn’t care a damn about the money.”