UCL: ‘Very dangerous, that’s why Arsenal signed him’ – Guardiola hails Villarreal’s Pepe
Manchester City boss, Pep Guardiola, has hailed former Arsenal star, Nicolas Pepe, describing the attacker as a dangerous player following City’s 2-0 victory over Villarreal.
He said it was because of how good the winger was that Arsenal ‘paid the amount of money’ they did for him back then.
Erling Haaland put the Premier League side in front scored in Wednesday’s Champions League clash the 17th minute and the visitors made it 2-0 shortly before half-time through Bernardo Silva.
Pepe had a glorious chance to half the deficit in the 77th minute, only to fire his volleyed effort over the crossbar.
Guardiola’s men had edged out Napoli and drew with Monaco before beating Villarreal on Wednesday.
Guardiola told reporters at the Estadio de la Ceramica, “Ah, he’s really good. It was a long time ago when he was playing at Arsenal and I’m happy that he’s playing here [at Villarreal].
“I’m pretty sure when Arsenal paid the amount of money they paid it’s because he’s a really good player, otherwise that wouldn’t have happened.
“He’s a dangerous player in the final third, one-vs-one.
“Jeremy [Doku] and Bernardo defended against him really well.”
Pepe was Arsenal’s record signing in 2019. He was named La Liga’s Player of the Month for August, with Villarreal sitting third in the Spanish top flight.