Arsenal have agreed on a deal to sign winger Nicolas Pepe from Lille for a transfer fee of around £72 million.
A couple of days ago, BBC had reported: “Arsenal have reached an agreement with French club Lille to sign Ivory Coast winger Nicolas Pepe in a deal worth 80m euros (£72m).
“The Gunners will pay for the 24-year-old via a series of instalments that suit their restricted budget for this summer.
“An agreement between Arsenal and Pepe’s representatives still needs to be finalised. But the transfer is expected to be completed in the next 24 to 48 hours.”
And now reports in the French media claim that Nicolas Pepe is due to arrive in London on Tuesday to complete his medical and the deal will likely be announced on Wednesday.
Apart from Arsenal, Napoli were also interested in signing the winger and at one point, the Serie A outfit were considered the favourites to land him.
But then all of a sudden, the Gunners jumped the queue and now one of the player’s relatives have revealed why Nicolas Pepe chose to snub Napoli at the final stages of the agreement.
“After turning down several clubs, Nicolas (Pepe) had the choice between Napoli and Arsenal,” the source told Sport Mania.
“I won’t lie to you: a total agreement was almost reached with Napoli.
“But Arsenal’s offer was more convincing, both financially and in terms of the sporting project.”
So obviously Arsenal are offering more to Nicolas Pepe and Unai Emery has also guaranteed him regular playing time meaning the right-winger will feature heavily for the Gunners during the 2019-20 season.
And once this move goes through, Nicolas Pepe will become the most expensive African player of all time.
