Arsenal stunned their fans in the summer by smashing their club-record fee on Ivory Coast winger Nicolas Pepe.

The Gunners paid Lille a cool £72 million for the 24-year-old - making him the fourth most expensive signing in Premier League history.

Only Paul Pogba (£89m), Romelu Lukaku (£75m) and Virgil van Dijk (£75m) cost more.

Pepe was on the radar of some of Europe’s top clubs after scoring 35 goals in 74 Ligue 1 appearances for Lille.

But it was Arsenal who won the race for the exciting winger’s signature, much to the delight of Unai Emery.

"Nicolas is a highly rated and talented winger who was wanted by many of the top teams in Europe," the Arsenal boss told reporters in August. "Signing a top-class winger has been one of our key objectives in this transfer window and I'm delighted he's joining.

"He will add pace, power and creativity, with the aim of bringing more goals to our team."

After his first five appearances for Arsenal, though, Pepe is still looking for his first Arsenal goal.

He has only managed to register one assist so far and failed to make a significant impact during Sunday’s disappointing 2-2 draw away at Watford.

Manchester United fans on Twitter have been loving Pepe’s inauspicious start to life with the Gunners, it’s fair to say.

They’ve been posting tweet after tweet arguing that Daniel James, who cost £57 million less than Pepe, is actually the better signing of the two attack-minded wingers.

James, a £15 million summer signing from Swansea City, has scored three goals in his first five Premier League appearances.

He also picked up United’s Player of the Month award for August last week.

United fans are understandably delighted with the impact James has made at Old Trafford and haven’t been able to resist teasing their Arsenal counterparts by comparing the Welshman’s stats to Pepe’s.

The stats don’t lie.

“We don’t stop in the Championship,” they said.

Weekly reminder.

Bargain buy.

‘He’s not playing Uber Eats drivers now’.

‘Pepe’s highlights v Watford’.

‘When you realise Tesco value does the same sh*t for £55m less’.

'Pepe against French farmers v Pepe in the Premier League'

And finally, a thread on why Pepe is better than James…