Nicolas Pepe expressed his gratitude to Villarreal CF and desire to help the team with his talent
Villarreal CF’s latest signing, Nicolas Pepe, has been officially presented as a player of the Yellow Submarine in the press room of the Estadio de la Cerámica, accompanied by the club’s director of football, Miguel Ángel Tena.
The Ivory Coast forward expressed his gratitude to the Yellow Submarine for the faith they have put in him: “I am happy that Villarreal CF trust in me and have given me this opportunity. I believe that I am going to be able to be decisive for the team and that over time I will feel comfortable here. I have felt that this is a family club, a calm place to do my work and reach my best level.”
Pepe also paid tribute to the Yellows Supporters for the welcome that he has had from them: “They have shown me a lot of affection and I want to pay them back with hard work and effort on the pitch. I hope that they’ll all be there for the match against Atlético de Madrid and fill the stadium, and I hope to be able to show the best version of myself”.
He then stated that he can play in a variety of attacking positions and that is ready to play wherever Marcelino needs him to in order to help the team. “My favourite position is the right wing, to cut in on my left foot, but I have also played on the team and as a centre forward. Even though I feel more comfortable on the right, I am ready to play wherever the coach wants me to.”
Pepe also highlighted that Marcelino’s role was crucial in him choosing to sign for Villarreal CF. “Thanks to my friend and teammate [Eric] Bailly, who I known from the national team, I was able to speak to Marcelino. He explained the project to me and gave me a lot of confidence. That convinced me.”
As for his best qualities on the pitch, the new Yellows attacker spoke about his dribbling ability: “It is one of my strong points. I feel comfortable one-against-one. I am a player who likes to dribble, and I believe that I also have a good shot. In recent years, I have worked a lot on the defensive side of my game, but I know that I still have work to do on this. I have not been able to meet all my teammates yet, because they went to the match against Borussia Dortmund, but I believe that it will be easy to adapt and I am looking forward to meeting them. I already have friends in the dressing room that I know are going to help me. And I want to start to learn and improve my Spanish, and this is going to help me to adapt.”
Tena: “We want to help him reach his maximum potential”
The club’s director of football, Miguel Ángel Tena, welcomed Pepe to the club and explained the reason for his arrival: “After [Bertrand] Traoré’s exit, we needed to reinforce that position. Nicolas Pepe is a top-quality player. We believe that he has great potential and and we want to help him reach it. We want him to be happy and be able to perform well for us. He can play in various positions in attack.”
