Mikel Arteta insists Nicolas Pepe tried really hard to succeed at Arsenal, and he hopes the winger can now kick on with his new club.

Nicolas Pepe left Arsenal at the end of the summer transfer window to join Trabzonspor, following a four-year spell with the Gunners.

After two seasons of regular appearances for Arsenal, Pepe had fallen out of favour during the 2021/22 campaign, before moving away on loan in 2022/23.

That ended up being the beginning of the end, as Pepe was never seriously considered for reintegration at Arsenal over the summer. His eventual move to Turkey was somewhat inevitable.

Yet Mikel Arteta claims there was no lack of effort on Pepe’s part, it just didn’t work out.

“What I can say about him as a person is that he’s a phenomenal boy,” Arteta said. “He tried really hard. It is not his fault the amount of money that we paid at the time and that’s it.

“When things are not working out, you have to move on. There’s no point trying when something is not working and that decision has been made and I think it benefits all parties.

“Obviously, these are sad moments for players…you have an emotional attachment with them. You have tried to get the best out of them.

“But there are periods and sometimes, it’s not about the will of the player and instead, it’s a player that plays in his position that does so well. There are many factors.

“But we certainly want to wish all of them the best and hopefully they can fulfil the dream somewhere else.”

Pepe has signed a one-year contract with Trabzonspor to 2024, with an option to extend for a further year.

The 28-year-old made 28 appearances for Nice last season, scoring eight goals, but he only played three times in Ligue 1 from January 16th to the end of the season due to injury.

The first step with his new club will be just to get playing again regularly.