Nicolas Pepe’s red card was a sign of something deeper: he needs help at Arsenal – Stan Collymore

How sad it was to see Nicolas Pepe react and get sent off for hitting Ezgjan Alioski in Arsenal’s clash with Leeds on Sunday.

I did ‘Match Of Ze Day’ in Paris last week and we featured an interview with Pepe, conducted in French, of course, where you could hear that he was going through a difficult time.

By his own admission, he can barely speak English and, 16 months after his arrival, that still makes it difficult for him to settle in North London.

Add poor form to the mix and you’re on and off the team, plus carrying a £ 72 million price tag on your shoulders, and you can see there’s one deeply unhappy guy who’s probably already given up to some degree trying. to make things work with the Gunners.

I’ve been in Pepe’s shoes and I can tell you that it’s hard.

I was only with Real Oviedo for a month, so it’s not the same, but I was living in a place that was certainly not a metropolis and no one spoke English, and I didn’t learn Spanish fast enough, which makes it difficult to learn. . settle.

At Aston Villa, I had my problems off the field and my form was poor.

And, in Liverpool, I decided to live in Cannock, close to my family and friends, when perhaps it would have been better to spend the first six months at least much closer to Anfield.

Sometimes it’s not just about the language, sometimes it can be the culture of a club or a city that just doesn’t fit in with a player the way he thought it would.

And sometimes clubs have to help players more, because it’s easy to point fingers at people when things aren’t going the way they should.

When Stiliyan Petrov went to Celtic he didn’t speak a word of English, but a security guard who had an ice cream van said, ‘Come and spend an hour with me after training every day,’ and that’s how he learned and settled in. to life here.

The clubs also have a responsibility to help the players, so I feel very sorry for Pepe.

I know fans struggle to sympathize with someone who hasn’t learned a language when he’s earning £ 100,000 a week and in an incredibly lucky position to play our dream game with a lifestyle to match.

But when it all starts to fall apart, soccer can seem like the loneliest profession on the planet and little, if anything, can be of comfort.

Flattery soon turns to mockery and laughter, and cars and houses make you feel like a fraud.

And in the field you feel that there is nowhere to hide.

So I hope the kid finds someone at Arsenal who can help him turn things around, because obviously there is talent there.

But if it doesn’t and his problems continue to grow, then Pepe must be honest with himself and leave the Gunners in search of another soccer home.

Soccer careers are short and being in a club that is not for you can have long-term implications both professionally and personally.

Sunday’s header was just a symptom of something deeper and I hope for Pepe’s sake that he can find what he needs to be happy soon.

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