Tottenham Hotspur should be joining the race for Nicolas Pepe.
As reported by Le10 Sport, Arsenal want to sign Lille winger Nicolas Pepe, with a fee of €50million (£44million) mentioned for the Ivorian – but Tottenham Hotspur should be keen too.
Pepe, 23, made his name with Angers before earning a 2017 move to Lille, and he starred last season with 13 goals and four assists in 36 Ligue 1 games.
A pacey wide man with a great left foot, Pepe looks set for a huge future – and Lille must know what it will be difficult to keep hold of him in 2019.
Arsenal, Barcelona and Bayern Munich are just some of the teams linked, but Tottenham should also be keen – and may just have a secret weapon if they do move.
According to Mercato 365 in France, Lille had already made contingency plans in case they sold Pepe in August, and had identified Tottenham’s Georges-Kevin Nkoudou as a potential replacement.
Nkoudou remains a complete outcast under Pochettino and has yet to start a single Premier League game for the club following a protracted 2016 move from Marseile, with a move to Lille potentially what he needs to kickstart his career again.
It would therefore be wise of Spurs to approach Lille about making a sensible deal; Spurs pay a considerable fee, but bring it down from that £44million price tag by giving Lille a winger they wanted to replace Pepe anyway.
Adding Pepe to the likes of Harry Kane, Son Heung-min, Lucas Moura and Erik Lamela would give Spurs a feared attack, and offering this deal could help beat Arsenal to his signature, handing Lille an immediate replacement whilst releasing Nkoudou from his Spurs hell.
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