Arsenal seek £72m buyers for Nicolas Pepe

Nicolas Pepe has only ever shown flashes of his talent in England, scoring a total of 16 goals in 80 Premier League games. Credit: Getty Images/James Williamson

Arsenal are looking for buyers for Nicolas Pepe and have no plans to reintegrate the club's record signing into their first team before next season.

Pepe, who joined Arsenal in the summer of 2019 for £72m, spent the 2022/23 season on loan at France's Nice.

The 28-year-old has only one year left on his contract with Arsenal and the north London club are looking to potential buyers in the next few weeks.

However, Pepe is one of Arsenal's highest paid players and with only 12 months left on his contract, there is a possibility that his contract could be terminated by the end of the summer window.

Arsenal hope to avoid such a scenario and instead charge a transfer fee, albeit a small one, for the player who caused so much buzz when he first joined the club. m

Nice are not expected to seek a permanent move for Pepe, as he said last week that it was «the end of the Nice adventure» for the Ivory Coast. In total, Pepe played 28 matches for the French club, in which he scored eight goals.

Pepe is one of the few remaining first team players to have been signed by Arsenal prior to the appointment of Mikel Arteta in December 2019.

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Apart from academy graduates, there are only seven senior players in the current roster who are older than Arteta: Kieran Tierney, William Saliba, Rob Holding, Mohamed Elneni, Granit Xhaka, Gabriel. Martinelli and Pepe.

Of the seven, at least three — Xhaka, Tierney and Pepe — are expected to leave this summer, with Holding also likely to follow them through the exit door.

Tierney is of interest to Newcastle United and Aston Villa, while Xhaka is set to join Bayer Leverkusen for around £13m. Full-back Cedric Soares, who spent the second half of last season on loan at Fulham, is also out of Arsenal's plans.

Pepe is set to become the most expensive player in Arsenal history by West Ham United captain Declan Rice. Arsenal and West Ham are closing in on a deal for the 24-year-old, who has been a top target for Arteta and sporting director Edu for months.

Arsenal remain interested in Brighton midfielder Moises Caicedo and are known to be looking into bidding on him as well as signing Rice. Chelsea are also pushing to sign the 21-year-old, who is expected to be worth over £70m.

Arsenal are also looking to beef up their defense this summer and are exploring potential options in the centre-back and right-back positions.