Well, Nicholas Pepe has left Arsenal.
The Gunners confirmed on Thursday that the Ivory Coast international had left North London to join Nice on a season-long loan arrangement.
Pepe remains Arsenal’s most expensive addition of all time, having cost £72 million during the summer of 2019, but he never really looked capable of consistently thriving under either Unai Emery or Mikel Arteta.
The good news is, Edu might be about to wrap up the 27-year-old’s replacement very quickly.
Earlier this week, it was reported by 90 Min, as covered by HITC Sport, that Arsenal wouldn’t be signing Pedro Neto until Pepe had departed the Emirates Stadium.
The Wolves attacker is heavily linked with a transfer to Arteta’s outfit, with Fabrizio Romano revealing in midweek that the player was ‘very keen’ on the move.
And with Pepe now having gone, and only a week to go in the transfer window, don’t be surprised to see Arsenal step up their efforts to sign the 22-year-old in what would be the club’s biggest signing of the summer.
Obviously Gabriel Jesus is looking like a revelation following his £45 million move from Manchester City.
But Neto, if it happens, would require significant more investment, with reports indicating that the North Londoners will be signing him for around £60 million [The Times].
That’s one hell of an outlay for a player who’d become Arsenal’s second-biggest signing of all time, behind only Pepe.
And with the Raul Sanllehi now gone, well it might pave the way for his replacement to arrive very soon.
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