Just days after announcing a double deal for Dani Ceballos and William Saliba, Arsenal appears to be on the verge of concluding an 80 million euro deal to sign the Lille OSC superstar Nicolas Pepe.
the The Ivorian international club has accepted an agreement who will see Arsenal pay their new club record fees – surpbading the Euro 64 million price of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – in installments intended to better match the current budget of the team.
Despite being part of the Ligue 1 season last year and helping almost alone Lille to qualify for the Champions League, we rarely know Grandpa out of France.
Here are some bits Arsenal fans will want to know about Grandpa will start to marvel before the start of the 2019/20 season.
Only Kylian Mbappe scored more points in the last season
Although he spent the whole season on the right of Lille, Pepe ended up being the second best scorer in Ligue 1 behind only Kylian Mbappé.
Including helpers, grandpa was directly involved in more league goals than four of last season's top teams – Guingamp, Caen, Dijon (all relegated) and Amiens.
He has already taken a step forward in his career
Pepe may be making a name for himself with four-time world champion Lille, but the Ivorian international has in fact made a breakthrough in Ligue 1 with the Angers minnows.
The club has always rebounded between the first two French divisions, but Grandpa – with the attacker Karl Toko Ekambi – helped establish Angers as a regular Ligue 1 team that has not been relegated since its promotion in 2015.
The pbadage from Lille to 24 years was a milestone in his career and can certainly raise the most doubts about Grandpa's ability to adapt to life in Arsenal to rest.
He has a better international record than Wilfried Zaha
When the initial movement of Arsenal for Grandpa seemed to be on leave earlier this summer, Crystal Palace talisman Wilfried Zaha has emerged as the club's number one target for the summer transfer window.
The Gunners have now turned back on this decision and the club is about to sign a natural right winger who has a better record of goals at the international level.
Pepe currently finds the back of the net every 194 minutes while representing the The Elephants, while Zaha only marks one out of 282.
He was personally discovered by Marcelo Bielsa
Current Leeds United Director Marcelo Bielsa spent only four months at the head of Lille OSC before leaving the Stade Pierre Mauroy, but it was El Loco genius who saw Pepe joins the club.
Argentina started by watching every Ligue 1 match Pepe had already played with Angers before watching the Ivorian himself and finally signed his signature for 10 million euros.
To learn more about Bielsa, read 90min Top 50 best managers of all time A flawless stayright here.
He scores a league goal every 196 minutes
Score a goal in the league at least once every three games of his career, Pepe's record in front of club goals is incredibly similar to the international level. Arsenal fans will therefore be certain that it will bring a steady stream of goals next season.
As a winger of the left foot coming from the right side, Grandpa will be totally unique in the Arsenal attack and will cause defense problems to all sorts of problems alongside Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – two former stars of Ligue 1 who are now among the most feared partnerships in the history of football.
He will be the fourth Ivorian player of Arsenal
The history of Arsenal with French players during Arsène Wenger's years at the club are more than well documented, but they have signed only three Ivorian internationals through the era of the Premier League.
Rear Center Kolo Toure joined the club in 2002 and made 329 appearances for Arsenal in all competitions, winning a league title and two FA Cups before transferring 16 million pounds to Manchester City seven years later.
Favorite fan back Emmanuel Eboué spent six years in North London before moving to Turkey in 2011, where he was replaced during the same transfer niche as Gervinho as part of a very prominent move to Lille OSC.
