Arteta ACCEPTS €77m loss as forgotten man heads for Saudi Pro League
Robin Bairner
- 6 Sept 2023 10:53 BST
- 3 min read
Arsenal’s hopes of selling Nicolas Pepe to Turkish outfit Besiktas may be ailing, but the Gunners could soon offload the attacker to the Saudi Pro League, where Al Shabab are reportedly willing to take a gamble on the player.
Pepe is one of the players that Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has been seeking to offload for the duration of the summer, but there have been no buyers for the 28-year-old.
Although the major European transfer windows are now closed, there was interest from Super Lig side Besiktas, but while that has faded, there is late hope for Arteta that he may be able to sell the player to Al Shabab.
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According to Football.London, Pepe has received a proposal from the Saudi club and his representatives are presently in the country speaking to Al Shabab over a deal.
Arsenal are set to recoup around €2.3 million (£2m) for Pepe, who until Declan Rice joined the club from West Ham United earlier this summer was their record signing.
The Gunners stand to make an astonishing €77m loss on the player, who joined from Lille in the summer of 2019.
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Arsenal's biggest transfer flop
Pepe has rarely demonstrated the type of form that saw Arsenal spend so big on him and last season was loaned to Ligue 1 side Nice, where he featured in only 19 Ligue 1 matches due to injury and poor form.
The Ivory Coast international’s best campaign with Arsenal came in 2020/21, when he bagged 10 Premier League goals.
Subsequently, however, his form collapsed and in his final full season with the club, he managed just a single Premier League strike in 20 appearances.
The Gunners are now seeking to clear him off the books in order to make space for players more compatible with Arteta’s plans for the future of the club, which have seen more established players like Kieran Tierney move on.
