Arsenal have received a huge boost in the signing of Ligue 1 sensation Nicolas Pepe – as per reports.
Nicolas Pepe joined Lille from Angers in 2017 and this season, the 23-year-old is one of the most talked about players in European football.
During the 2018-19 season, Nicolas Pepe has already scored 19 goals and provided 13 assists in just 32 league games for Lille and the youngster once again came into the limelight this week when Lille thumped 5 goals past PSG.
A number of top European clubs have shown interest in signing the winger and Premier League club Arsenal are rumoured to be one of the favourites.
And now Lille president Gerard Lopez has admitted that it will be really hard for the club to keep hold of Pepe during the summer.
“Four or five players will be leaving this summer,” he told Telefoot(as reported by Four Four Two).
“All clubs are forced to balance their accounts except perhaps one. I would say yes, it is sure he [Pepe] will leave.
“He enters a price range that can no longer be paid. There is a career choice to make for him, I think he will have the choice.”
Arsenal will surely be happy that Lille have made up their mind on selling off Nicolas Pepe at the end of the season but this is one cloud which might not have a silver lining for the Gunners.
Clearly, a number of clubs have shown an inclination towards signing the 23-year-old and we are pretty sure that a few more will join the race before the transfer window opens up.
This very simply means there will be a big bidding war for Nicolas Pepe during the summer and Arsenal with a rumoured budget of just 50 million pounds might very well be prized out of the transfer race pretty early.
