Don't Miss

[Photo] Nicolas Pepe shirt number confirmed after Arsenal unveil £72m signing

By mac14 on August 1, 2019

Arsenal have finally confirmed the signing of Nicolas Pepe with the attacker arriving in a club record £72m deal from Lille and he’ll wear the No.19 this coming season.

We’ve been desperately trying to bring in a top class winger all summer and Unai Emery turned his attention to Pepe after failing to agree terms with Crystal Palace over a deal for Wilfried Zaha.

News broke earlier this week that the 24-year-old was in London undergoing his medical after Arsenal had agreed a deal with Lille to sign Pepe with the attacker snubbing the likes of Napoli in favour of a move to London.

We’ve seen leaked images of the Ivory Coast international in an Arsenal shirt and have had to wait patiently for the formal announcement but we finally confirmed Pepe’s arrival on Arsenal.com this afternoon.

The winger will wear the No.19 shirt this season and has joined the club on a five-year contract. Arsenal haven’t disclosed the fee but it’s been widely reported that we’ll pay Lille £72m.

After completing what is a club record signing, Emery told the Arsenal website that he’s delighted to have signed Pepe as he will add ‘pace, power and creativity’ to our attack.

“Nicolas is a highly-rated and talented winger who was wanted by many of the top teams in Europe.

“Signing a top-class winger has been one of our key objectives in this transfer window and I’m delighted he’s joining.

“He will add pace, power and creativity, with the aim of bringing more goals to our team.”

This is a huge statement of intent from Arsenal and fair play to the club for pulling this out of the bag. Pepe is an exciting signing and he should prove to be an excellent addition to the squad.

We’ve badly lacked pace out wide in recent years and Pepe will certainly solve that problem with the Ivorian set to create a formidable front-three alongside Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette.