Former Arsenal record signing Nicolas Pepe says he considered retiring from football while at the club because of the criticism aimed at him.
Pepe joined the Gunners for £72m in 2019 but was released in 2023 after a disappointing spell at the club.
The 29-year-old is now a free agent again after leaving Turkish side Trabzonspor and speaking to L’Equipe, the Ivory Coast international says he suffered “trauma” while playing for Arsenal.
“It was almost harassment,” he said.
“I don’t look at social media much, but if my brother told me “this is what they said about you”, it would affect me unconsciously.
“It also came from the media or from certain members of the club. They don’t realise that it can affect the mental state, the family and it affects performance.
“The only people who have always supported me are the Arsenal fans.
“At Arsenal, I suffered a kind of trauma, as if my passion had been ripped away from me, I had a disgust for football. I doubted myself to the point that I thought about quitting everything.
“I wondered how they could have been so relentless in their attacks on me. They even called me the biggest flop in the history of the Premier League. But I refused to mope.”
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