Arsenal could be set to sanction the departure of Nicolas Pepe on Monday, according to reports.
Pepe has fallen heavily out of favour this season with Emile Smith Rowe, Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli generally rotated behind Arsenal’s sole striker this season.
So, it is not too surprising to see 90min report that Arsenal are prepared to let club-record signing Nicolas Pepe depart before the transfer window closes. Any departure would be on loan with Pepe still having two-and-a-half years left to run on his contract.
In terms of who could sign Pepe on Monday, an unnamed Spanish club are said to be confident of agreeing a deal for the winger, while there has also been interest this month from German and French sides – no specific team is mentioned in the report.
Nicolas Pepe’s uninspiring Arsenal stint
If Pepe does leave on loan, Arsenal fans will no doubt be hoping that a move away helps bring Pepe somewhere close to his best after what has been an awful run in north London.
Pepe joined Arsenal in the summer of 2019 from Lille. The Gunners paid a staggering £72m to bring the Ivorian to north London.
And though a player of course has no control over his price-tag, to say that Pepe has since failed to come anywhere close to justifying such a fee would be putting it lightly.
Both Unai Emery, who has made public that he in fact wanted to sign Wilfried Zaha over Pepe, and Mikel Arteta, have struggled to get the best out of the gifted wide-man.
Pepe would have a bright end to the 2020/21 Premier League campaign, which saw him net five times in his last three league outings of the season.
However, he has since struggled to emulate that form during the new term.
Pepe has scored two and assisted four in three League Cup outings, but he has continued to struggle for any sort of form in the league.
