Record signing open to leaving Arsenal

Stuart Telford

• 21 Mar 2023 10:50 CDT
• 3 min read

Nicolas Pepe, Arsenal's €80 million record signing, is open to making his loan deal with Nice permanent at the end of the season according to reports in France.

Pepe cost nearly €17m more than the club's previous record signing and former captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang when he swapped Lille for Arsenal in August 2019, and there was understandable excitement around his arrival.

Pepe had registered 22 goals and 11 assists in 38 games in his final Ligue 1 season before arriving in North London, but struggled to recreate that form for the Gunners.

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Pepe's three years at the Emirates brought an FA Cup in 2020, but the emergence of Bukayo Saka in his preferred position on the right flank rendered him surplus to requirements. He would now like to make his Nice stay permanent.

Pepe in favour of move

"There are three months left for Pepe and Nice to decide if they can extend the adventure beyond this loan season," write French sports daily l'Equipe. "The player, who only has one year left of Arsenal contract, would have nothing against it."

The report goes on to say that Nice are reserving judgement on the Ivorian, who had nine goal-involvements from 24 games in all competitions before a knee ligament injury sustained in January.

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Head coach Didier Digard, who replaced Lucien Favre around the same time, certainly rates Pepe.

"The team was doing well before his injury," he said recently. "This is a big advantage for us. He's an additional weapon, he's capable of making a difference as we saw against Tiraspol," he said, after Nice beat Sheriff 3-1 in the Europa League last Thursday.

"He has the ability to bet an opponent one-on-one. I think he's feared by defenders so he can free up space for us. He's fast and keeps possession well. He has many qualities."

Pepe is now valued at just 13.6m by FootballTransfers' in-house algorithm, and Nice will hope they can sign him for no more than that with the player available on a free in June 2024.