Everton and West Ham are among the clubs keeping tabs on Arsenal winger Nicolas Pepe, who could be allowed to leave the club this summer.
Pepe has struggled to cement a regular place in the Arsenal side after his big-money move to the club. The former Lille winger came to the Premier League after an excellent spell in France, but Pepe has failed to adapt to life in England.
According to journalist Ekrem Konur in the tweet below, Sevilla, West Ham, Everton, and Leicester City are all keeping tabs on Pepe ahead of a potential transfer this summer.
? EXCL• Sevilla, West Ham, Everton and Leicester City are monitoring the condition of Arsenal's 27-year-old winger Nicolas Pepe. ?? ? #AFC
#SevillaFC #WHUFC #EFC #LCFC pic.twitter.com/hIQlciIg1k— Ekrem KONUR (@Ekremkonur) July 16, 2022
Although Pepe has failed to adapt to life in the Premier League so far, a new move may be necessary to reignite his career.
Everton in particular have been crying out for a right-winger for some time now, with their usual wingers Demarai Gray and Anthony Gordon preferring to operate on the left-hand side.
? EXCLUSIVE: @FabrizioRomano on Arsenal's agreement to sign Oleksandr Zinchenko and how Mikel Arteta plans to use him.
Full story ??https://t.co/wrwmusBUGP pic.twitter.com/Mmv6kFnjUM
— CaughtOffside (@caughtoffside) July 17, 2022
However, after Arsenal paid a whopping £72m (according to Sky Sports) for the winger, they will be wanting to recoup a decent amount of the fee they paid for him, which could make him an unrealistic signing for the aforementioned clubs.
In the right system Pepe could really thrive, unfortunately Arteta’s approach didn’t suit him – no offence to either man, they just simply weren’t compatible in their visions of football. Pepe averaged around a goal or assist every other game in his time at Arsenal. Any manager that will play him more as an inside forward (he far prefers to cut in to central positions) with a solid full back behind him will reap the rewards. He’s fast, great at dribbling and has a killer shot from the right or in deadball situations, and creates a lot of chances. His concentration isn’t always great and he’s not the type you should expect a huge defensive contribution from, that aside he has a lot to offer.
Arsenal massively overpaid for him, but that was the way things went pre-Covid, now I think a fee of £30-35million would suit all parties perfectly.
I hear Leeds have joined Sevilla, West Ham, Everton etc in keeping tabs on him. I miss watching him at Lille but can’t see him ever returning so I hope one of the prementioned teams pick him up and he’ll get a proper chance in the Premier League.