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Reports: Arsenal table record £72m offer for 23-goal attacker

By on July 13, 2019

According to French publication Telefoot, Arsenal have tabled a sensational £72m [€80m] offer for Lille attacker Nicolas Pepe.

Unai Emery has been desperately trying to add to his depleted squad this summer and a wide forward is on the agenda as we lack any width in the team while Danny Welbeck has left following the expiration of his contract.

We’ve been linked with the likes of Wilfried Zaha and Ryan Fraser over the past few months but have failed to agree deals with Palace and Bournemouth, and it looks like Arsenal have now turned their attention to another target.

French outlet Telefoot are reporting that Arsenal have submitted a club record £72m [€80m] offer for Nicolas Pepe and are ready to go head-to-head with Inter Milan for the Lille attacker this summer.

The report says Lille are now considering our proposal but Pepe hasn’t made a decision over his future as he’s still on holiday after representing the Ivory Coast as the African Cup of Nations.

This is certainly an exciting piece of news, if true, as Pepe would be an excellent signing if we could pull if off and the club would finally be showing some ambition in the transfer market.

The 24-year-old was one of the most prolific attackers in Europe last season after providing 23 goals and 12 assists in 41 appearances and he’s comfortable playing anywhere across the front three so he’d give Emery plenty of options.

However, my concern is that Pepe’s arrival would see Arsenal cash-in on one of our star strikers as I just don’t see us being able to afford £72m without recouping a huge fee from one of our existing players.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette are two of the only players in our squad that would command that type of fee so I wouldn’t be surprised if one of them was about to leave if we signed Pepe.

I think that would be completely counter productive as we need to be adding to world class players like Auba and Laca, not selling them. Pepe would be a terrific player to play alongside our star duo but I’d be gutted to see one of them leave to fund this reported move.