ARSENAL are ready to ditch £72million club record signing Nicolas Pepe – but fear they might have to pay him to leave.
The 27-year-old winger is currently on loan at Nice but is not part of Mikel Arteta’s plans.
4Nicolas Pepe is set to leave ArsenalCredit: Getty
4Albert Sambi Lokonga is another player who could be ditched by ArsenalCredit: Getty
4There are seven players the club who could be on the chopping blockCredit: Getty
But he still has another year of his £140,000-a-week Emirates contract to run and has attracted no offers from any potential buyers.
Nice, owned by Manchester United bidder Sir Jim Ratcliffe, have suggested they may be willing to sign Pepe on a permanent deal in the summer.
But there has been no indication that they are prepared to pay a transfer fee for the player who became the most expensive signing in Arsenal’s history when he joined them from Lille in 2019.
Pepe has not started a Premier League game for the Gunners since October 2021 and has made it clear that he does not see a future for himself in North London after falling behind Bukayo Saka in the pecking order.
Yet his current wages are seen as a stumbling block to any potential departure and Arsenal are almost resigned to having to pay at least part of the £7million he is still due from his contract.
Since Arteta was appointed Arsenal boss in December 2019, Mesut Ozil, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alex Lacazette, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Shkodran Mustafi, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Sead Kolasinac, Hector Bellerin, Calum Chambers and David Luiz have all left the club for no fee.
If Pepe joins them on the scrapheap, that will be £340m-worth of signings allowed to depart for nothing.
Sporting director Edu justified that policy last summer when he claimed: “When a player is 26 or older, has a big salary and is not performing, he’s killing you.”
But Pepe might not be the last of the Arsenal give-aways this summer as there are a number of other players currently out on loan who are unlikely to return to the club.
They are ready to listen to offers for Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Sambi Lokonga, Nuno Tavares, Pablo Mari, Cedric Soares and Alex Runarsson but know that few of that list are likely to attract substantial bids.
And there is also uncertainty regarding the long-term futures of Kieran Tierney, Rob Holding and Folarin Balogun as Arteta prepares for another summer upgrade to prepare his squad for a return to the Champions League next season.
4Ainsley Maitland-Niles has been on loan at Southampton this season
source: thesunco.uk
