Latest Arsenal transfer news as Arsenal look set to lose money on record signing Nicolas Pepe after his £72m arrival from Lille in 2019 with the Ivory Coast international currently on loan at Nice
Arsenal made Nicolas Pepe their record signing when he arrived from Lille for a whopping £72 million in 2019.
Even after the arrivals of the transformative Oleksandr Zinchenko and Gabriel Jesus from Manchester City in the summer, Pepe's fee is still the most Arsenal have shelled out for one player. And his move to Arsenal is unlikely to go how all parties would have hoped ahead of the expiration of his contract at the end of next season.
He has managed eight goals in 25 appearances and one assist for Nice who do not have an option to sign him permanently, according to reports. Nice, owned by potential Manchester United suitor Sir Jim Ratcliffe, certainly have the funds to sign Pepe at the end of the season if they wanted to.
However, what sort of fee Arsenal could expect for the Ivory Coast international is unclear. The CIES Football Observatory value Pepe at 'up to £8.8m which is a damning assessment of Pepe's time at Arsenal so far.
Even if Pepe moves on from Arsenal on a permanent deal in the summer for more than the CIES Football Observatory valuation, it will be nowhere near the price Arteta's men signed him for. Pepe's struggles have not been through a lack of effort though - with Arteta a big fan.
"He has tried everything, his attitude and the way he is, is just phenomenal.," Arteta said. "You just have to meet the person because you just love him for the way he is.
"But then in terms of the decision you have to make on the pitch, who do you select, we made other decisions and obviously that has had an impact on the chances he had to prove his quality."