Arsenal told to pay €80m for transfer target

Arsenal will have to break their transfer record to sign Nicolas Pepe after Lille slapped a €80million (£72m) price tag on the Ivorian attacker.

The Gunners have long been linked with a move for the prolific winger, who has netted 12 goals and laid on five assists in Ligue 1 this season – only Paris Saint-Germain star Kylian Mbappe has had a hand in more goals.

Although a transfer fee of around £40 million had been mooted, Lille bigwig Luis Campos insists it could take closer to twice that figure.

Speaking about Nicolas Pepe to Telefoot on Sunday, Luis Campos set his value for the wing wizard: ‘€80million. But [any club] will also have to convince the player.’ French newspaper L’Equipe recently claimed that Lille were open to selling Pepe in the January window, with Arsenal in pole position to prise him away.

But Campos’ valuation suggests the club will do everything possible to retain the 23-year-old’s services whose stellar performances have guided Lille to second place in the Ligue 1 table.

Unai Emery is understood to be a big fan of Nicolas Pepe, having played against him when in charge of Ligue 1 champions, while he is searching for attacking reinforcements following Danny Welbeck’s season-ending injury.

Comments

Arsenal midfielder Ozil in doubt for Blackpool

Mesut Özil is in doubt for Arsenal's FA Cup third-round tie with Blackpool on Sunday. The German has not played since being substituted at half-time in the Boxing Day draw with Brighton. He has been sidelined with a knee injury ever since, missing out on matches against Liverpool and Fulham. And Emery has hinted he could spend another week on the sidelines to recover. When asked if Oil would be involved against the League One outfit, the Spaniard told reporters at London Colney: "This morning, he didn't train.

Emery confirms worrying transfer news for Arsenal on Thursday

Arsenal manager Unai Emery has confirmed some worrying news for Arsenal fans with less than three weeks now left in the January transfer window. The Arsenal boss managed to sign several players during the summer but most of the deals were for a cheap price, significantly lesser than what rivals Chelsea and Liverpool were paying for their new signings. Club owner Stan Kroenke has been criticised by most fans for refusing to spend enough money when needed in the transfer market. Following the recent 5-1 humiliation away to Liverpool in the Premier League which exposed most of the team’s serious problems, several fans have been calling for signings to be made this month. However, speaking on transfers at his press conference on Thursday morning, Unai Emery revealed that the club is not financially capable of making any permanent purchases of players at the moment. Thus, the Arsenal boss insists that loans deal will be the Gunners’ best bet in the January transfer windo...

Arsenal’s Suarez update, Chelsea FC in talks to sign 24-year-old

Unai Emery has convinced Denis Suarez about a move to Arsenal from FC Barcelona as a the two clubs near a loan agreement for the 25-year-old midfielder. Here, we look at some of the top football transfer stories from the British and world media in The Sport Review’s Grapevine, published every day during the 2019 January transfer window. It was a busy summer transfer window in the Premier League as most of the top teams brought in significant reinforcements ahead of the start of the new campaign. Attentions will now turn towards the forthcoming January transfer window, as Premier League clubs begin considering brining in some potential reinforcements for the midway stage of the season. We’ll keep you up to date with the very latest transfer news concerning your club in our daily football gossip and rumours column. So, with the January transfer window now open, The Grapevine has the very latest football transfer news from the Premier League’s top clubs in the round-up belo...

Arsenal

Search This Blog