The story of Arsenal’s summer transfer business focused heavily on incomings in the early stages of the window. However, as time has moved on and five players have been brought in, the focus is now very much on trying to shift the surplus talent.
One player though whose Arsenal future remains uncertain is Nicolas Pepe. It had been expected at the start of the summer that the Ivorian would seek a move away from the Gunners and football.london understands he had changed agents in a move to aid his exit.
However, despite scattered reports of interest from the likes of Sevilla and Newcastle, Pepe remains an Arsenal player. He has even taken to social media to talk of his focus being with the Gunners.
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“I worked hard during the summer. Changed a lot of things,” he wrote. “I’m focused and determined with Arsenal and my teammates.”
This does not rule out an exit later in the window, especially with Bukayo Saka very much the first choice ahead of Pepe. Fabio Vieira’s arrival and Reiss Nelson’s return from loan further complicates the right-wing role and Arsenal have been linked with a ‘mystery winger’ which, according to Fabrizio Romano, remains a position Edu and Mikel Arteta want to address.
This would surely be reliant on Pepe’s exit, however. That said, the options for Arsenal having missed out on Raphinha - who moved instead to Barcelona - are not exactly obvious or numerous.
Links to Cody Gakpo have been the most recent but the PSV attacker is a predominantly left-sided player with little experience operating on the right flank. On the right, Marco Asensio of Real Madrid has been mentioned but the Spaniard draws no comparison to Raphinha whatsoever.
Asensio is more the wide playmaker that Emile Smith-Rowe fits the profile of than that of a winger. Looking through potential options and without paying massive figures for the likes of Moussa Diaby or Leroy Sane, who are unlikely to move this summer, there are no obvious candidates better than Pepe.
Because of this, there is a growing argument that Pepe should stay for another year. For Arsenal to invest now in a potential player who does not give them what they want could potentially leave them in the same situation of needing a better player a year later but with less money to invest in a deal.
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