---
title: "Arsenal: Jamie O’Hara slams Gunners’ transfer business despite £72m Pepe arrival"
canonical: "https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/arsenal-jamie-ohara-slams-gunners-transfer-business-despite-72m-pepe-arrival/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Stephan Georgiou"
section: "Arsenal Football Club"
published: "2019-08-02T17:05:48Z"
modified: "2019-08-02T17:05:48Z"
---

# Arsenal: Jamie O’Hara slams Gunners’ transfer business despite £72m Pepe arrival

**Former Spurs midfielder Jamie O’Hara has blasted Arsenal’s transfer activity, despite the Gunners recently sealing their club-record transfer of [Nicolas Pepe](https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/49197553) from Lille for £72m.**

Aside from Pepe, Unai Emery has [added](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/fc-arsenal/transfers/verein/11/saison_id/2019) the likes of midfielder Dani Ceballos and youngster Gabriel Martinelli to the ranks – as well as French centre-back William Saliba, who has re-joined former club Saint-Etienne [on loan](https://www.arsenal.com/news/salibasigns-saliba-join-club) for the upcoming season.

O’Hara feels that Arsenal should have focused on strengthening their defence – especially in light of Laurent Koscielny’s pre-season [antics](https://www.arsenal.com/news/club-statement-laurent-koscielny) that saw the captain miss the team’s American tour – and had doubts over Pepe’s impact at the club.

He told [talkSPORT](https://twitter.com/talkSPORT/status/1156965188521930752): “Everyone’s getting a little bit carried away saying it’s going to be their best transfer window. Look, Pepe’s a very good player, but he’s not proven in the Premier League.

“They’ve signed Ceballos from Real Madrid, but they lost Ramsey, and for me, Ramsey was a big player for them, so all they’ve done is lost one, brought one in.

“I thought they needed to strengthen at the back – what happens? Koscielny wants to leave, and he’s their captain.

“You have to build from the back. They need a left-back and they need a centre-half, and their club captain doesn’t want to be at the club.”

How convenient for O’Hara that ‘everyone’ is supposedly of a view he disagrees with. To cite Pepe’s lack of Premier League pedigree is merely an empty and lazy remark from the ex-Spurs player. He said it himself – he’s ‘a very good player’ – so how relevant can his experience be? [Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/pierre-emerick-aubameyang/leistungsdatendetails/spieler/58864/plus/0?saison=&verein=11&liga=&wettbewerb=&pos=&trainer_id=) certainly didn’t need any based on his scoring record for Arsenal.

As for criticising Arsenal for replacing a player in Ramsey (who sealed his move to Juventus back in [February](https://www.skysports.com/football/news/12961/11634727/arsenals-aaron-ramsey-joins-juventus-on-four-year-deal)) – well, that is the entire point of the transfer window.

If these are the bases of O’Hara’s arguments, then perhaps there will be no pleasing the ex-Tottenham man as far as Arsenal are concerned.