Arsenal made Nicolas Pepe the most expensive player in their history last summer but all the winger could manage are five goals and six assists in 31 Premier League games for the Emirates outfit.
The Gunners paid £72 million for the signing of Pepe and as per ESPN’s James Olley, the club have now launched an internal investigation to find out if they had overpaid for the Ivorian winger.
Olley wrote: “Arsenal’s efforts to streamline and improve their operations has extended to an internal investigation into whether they overpaid for £72m club-record signing Nicolas Pepe.
“Sources have told ESPN the deal has been re-examined as part of the wider recruitment overhaul which led to the departures of a host of scouts including Francis Cagigao, Brian McDermott and Brian Clark as well as several more senior employees based throughout Europe.
“Pepe attracted interest from a number of Europe’s top clubs after impressing in Ligue 1 but sources have told ESPN that individuals working for other clubs who became involved in preliminary talks with Lille were taken aback by the amount Arsenal eventually paid.
“Technical director Edu joined the club three weeks before Pepe signed for Arsenal — he held up Pepe’s shirt with the winger at his unveiling — but the bulk of the work on the deal had already been done.”
This is a big revelation coming out of the London club especially at a time when Mikel Arteta has just gone out and signed Willian on a free transfer from Chelsea.
Nicolas Pepe was the star of the show at Lille during the 2018-19 season but he has clearly failed to adjust to life in the English league.
But now with the arrival of Willian, it remains to be seen if the Arsenal boss sticks with Pepe as his first-choice right-winger or is he frozen out of the squad just like Mesut Ozil and Matteo Guendouzi.
