Not sure what highlights you were watching but the ones I watched show him skinning players with ease he looks extremely skillful and quick. He is a winger remember not a striker so even with pens his stats are impressive.
Fair enough mate. Everyone can have their own opinion. I admitted that his stats are impressive, I just think they are inflated from all the pens and the weak level of competition in Ligue 1. He certainly has a good burst of pace, but I didn't see much else to go along with it....
Comparing him to what we already have -- I think he'd struggle to be an improvement on Shaqiri, which means his fee (supposedly north of 60M) is an absolute joke. We signed Shaqiri at the age of 26 (2 years older than Pepe is now) and his highlight reel at the time of signing was 100x more impressive than Pepe's. The pace and power in his running, the variety of goals scored (close range finishes, long range strikes, free kicks, weak foot strikes, and even the odd pen), and the vision and precision of some of his assists suggest to me that Shaqiri is a significantly more well rounded player than Pepe, and he can barely get a minute in the team.
But, as I previously mentioned, I'm not exactly world renowned for my ability to scout and develop top footie talent. Odds are, I'm probably wrong....
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