Arsenal offering Nicolas Pepe to Premier League rivals as Gunners to take huge loss on ace

Mikel Arteta reflects on Arsenal's win over Man Utd

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Arsenal smashed their transfer record in 2019 when they signed Nicolas Pepe from Lille for £72million. But the move has been a complete disaster and the Gunners are set to make a huge loss on their winger this summer.

Arsenal may be known for pulling off some excellent transfers in the past, but they look set to make a huge loss on Nicolas Pepe this summer.

The Gunners splashed out a whopping £72million for Pepe in 2019, and it’s been a disastrous move as the Ivorian can’t even get near Mikel Arteta’s first team. It must be noted that Pepe was brought in under Unai Emery, before Arteta arrived at the club, but it’s been a major misjudgement by Arsenal.

The Gunners are now looking to finally part ways with the former Lille winger, and they are even offering him to Premier League rivals to get him off their books. But they are preparing to take a huge loss, by selling him for a cut-price fee.

Arsenal are reportedly willing to listen to offers of just £25m for Pepe, meaning that they’re ready to take a £47m loss in just three years. And West Ham are one of the teams said to be interested in acquiring Pepe’s services from Arsenal.

It’s just never worked out for Pepe at Arsenal, and the rise of Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Emile Smith Rowe have almost secured his fate already. And it’s time for Arsenal to at least cash in for a percentage, as he begins to enter the last two years of his contract.

As players approach the final 24 months of their deal, they seem to enter ‘sign or sell’ territory, as if their future isn’t at the club, then their value is lessening by the month. £25m may be a small percentage of what Arsenal paid, but it’s the most that they’re going to receive for Pepe, unless there is a miraculous U-turn in form.

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Arteta was excited by Pepe’s performances in the Africa Cup of Nations at the start of the year, and backed him to be a ‘different’ player by the end of the season. But seeing as the Ivorian has made no advancements domestically, it seems as though Arsenal are ready to sell.

When Pepe arrived back from international duty, Arteta said: “Since he has come back from AFCON I think I have seen a different Nico as well. I don’t know what it is, probably he has realised the importance of the end of the season for him.

“He had a brilliant end of the season last year. He can replicate that. We need him at his best because everybody is going to contribute. We are a really short squad at the moment and we need it and hopefully he has understood that we want to play him.

“I don’t want to have a player like him sitting on the bench and not using him and the moment I have chances, I want to give him a chance.” But Pepe clearly hasn’t warranted many, as he has been snubbed by Arteta.

When the Spaniard was asked what was different about Pepe upon his return, he said: “His attitude, his smile, the way he is communicating with everybody, his energy. The way he has trained. His efficiency in training, his application.

“His energy has changed. I don’t know what it is. I think he felt important again. Probably he felt like a proper football player that can win tournaments and felt: ‘Ok, this is me now’. And he needed that and I’m really pleased with that.”

But unfortunately for Pepe he clearly hasn’t kept this up, but there is potential that Arsenal’s loss could be another team’s gain. Should Pepe want to stay in the Premier League, he has been linked with a move to the London Stadium.

However, he may face a similar problem with Jarrod Bowen and Pablo Fornals already performing so well. But there could be a shake-up in store as David Moyes is pursuing a new striker.

It’s expected to be a huge squad change in the summer for Arsenal, with multiple players tipped to leave the Emirates at the end of the season. But it was allow for new players to be brought in, as Arteta hits the refresh button.

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