Nicolas Pepe’s fine form in Ligue 1 has reportedly attracted the attention of Sevilla and Roma – but it’s too late for Premier League outfit Southampton.
Two attributes that Southampton were quite clearly lacking last season were pace and creativity. In the end, Mark Hughes’ side stayed up by the skin of their teeth, finishing 17th and scoring less than a goal a game on average.
So that explains why they made a move for the highly-rated Lille attacker Nicolas Pepe in the summer transfer window.
The 23-year-old winger emerged as one of the most exciting young attackers in France during the 2016/17 campaign with Angers and impressed in his debut season with Lille, even if Le Dogues struggled badly.
Pepe scored 13 goals in 31 Ligue 1 starts, the best tally of his career. And the Ivory Coast international has started 2018/19 in fine style, too, scoring and assisting a goal in a 3-1 opening day win against Rennes.
And Lille have done well to keep him. France Football reports that Southampton made a bid of £12.5 million over the summer, only for Christophe Galtier’s side to reject this out of hand.
The report adds that Sevilla have now started discussions and an offer of £22 million has been mentioned. Roma are also believed to be interested. So, with European regulars now cottoning on to Pepe’s potential, Southampton’s chance could have passed them by.
And the goalless stalemate with Burnley on Sunday suggests that they could have done with Pepe.
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