Klaus wrote:
We should be so lucky if he ever has one season that is as good as Salah's two for Liverpool.
Gazza M wrote:
lets chill a bit here. pepe can be a mess at times, with rough touches and ill-advised dribbling into cul de sacs, especially when spaces are limited. he's got some developing to do if he's to become a complete player
Agree Gazza. You never know; he might hit the ground running and never look back, but as a whole I think he might have a mixed season if he comes here. He's a good player and a definite improvement but I don't think he's going to be Eden Hazard good right away. The skill map Ricky posted showing him as a little more rounded Zaha in a fair bit weaker league looks about right to me.
I'm so excited that we're going for a skillful dribbler with actual end product though. Definitely think Pepe's the right choice between him and Zaha too, not least because he's 2 ½ years younger. That's the sort of player you can build with.
First comparison is to Florian Thauvin to show that despite their somewhat similar goals and assists numbers in the same league, in a direct comparison of the different facets of their game, Pépé blows him out of the water:
Then a comparison to the aforementioned Zaha, Mané, Salah and Sané. And whilst you might have to adjust for the quality of the League somewhat (Thauvin's score shows great end product doesn't necessitate a great score even in Ligue 1), for the latter three, you also have to adjust for the fact that they play on MUCH better teams than Pépé relative to the opposition they face most weeks:
You can see his closest match is Sané, and I'd agree with that. In terms of talent there's probably not much in it between the two; I'd definitely give the edge to Pépé, but in terms of the intangibles I'd say Pépé at least a level up from Sané. He works harder, he plays better when the heats on, he takes more responsibility; he's just better.
And just for the hell of it, and to show there is another level up from the these players and it is borne out in the scoring:
We can't know how Pépé will find England and the Premier League, it could take him a while to settle, but the kid really is a massive talent. Certainly better than Zaha, at the very least comparable to Sané, and I would argue somewhere a lot closer to Mané and Salah's level last season. If we get him up and running in the team and play to his strengths, he'll be devastatingly good for us.
