Arsenal are prepared to offload Nicolas Pepe after a disappointing three years at the club for a massive hit on the price they paid back in 2019.
The Ivory Coast international signed for the Gunners for a club-record £72million from Lille under Unai Emery but has failed to make much of an impression. The winger now mostly resides on the Emirates bench behind Bukayo Saka.
Mikel Arteta does not fancy the 26-year-old, who has scored just one Premier League goal this season. The Spaniard has big plans ahead of the summer transfer window - including bringing in a forward after losing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
But strikers do not come cheap and after splashing out over £150m last summer, Arsenal will need to recoup some funds from their current squad. The Gunners are also in danger of seeing too many players at the club following an initial cull under Arteta, where he offloaded plenty of deadwood.
Pepe still falls under that category despite his mammoth price-tag while he simply has not adapted properly to the Premier League. According to The Sun, Arsenal are now willing to see the former Angers ace depart.
However, it is far from likely they will get anywhere near what they paid three years ago. That is despite the fact that Emirates chiefs reckon he is one of the few remaining fringe players that could generate modest funds to help bolster the squad.
Should Nicolas Pepe leave Arsenal this summer? Comment below
Pepe has not started a Premier League game in over six months and has been relegated to a permanent post on the bench while Arteta's young guns take centre stage. The Ivorian still has two years on his contract, worth £140,000-a-week.
With the player also wanting to leave for his own career, all parties have agreed that a move away would be for the best. It has been reported that a fee of just £25m would be enough to see the winger leave this summer.
That is a dramatic £47m less than what Arsenal shelled out for his services at a time when Emery told the board to sign Wilfried Zaha from Crystal Palace instead. It meant that Pepe had a disappointing start to life in north London after being sidelined by the now-Villarreal boss.
There were huge hopes over the signing after the Gunners shattered their club-record fee to bring him in with interest from Chelsea and Liverpool at the time. But his time in England has largely been a failure, though last season there was hope after a late spell of form saw him net 10 in the Premier League.
