Arsenal could reportedly terminate the contract of Nicolas Pepe this summer as manager Mikel Arteta reveals he plans to hold talks in order to make a decision over the player.
The Ivory Coast international has been a flop at the Emirates Stadium since his big move from Lille a few years ago, and spent last season on loan at Nice, where he again struggled to make much of an impression.
According to the Daily Mirror, Arsenal could now be ready to terminate Pepe’s contract in order to facilitate an exit, with not much in the way of concrete transfer rumours involving the 28-year-old this summer, suggesting a lack of strong interest in buying him from the Gunners.
Arteta is quoted in the Mirror’s live blog as saying he’ll talk to Pepe soon, so it may be that we’ll hear some concrete developments on this saga in due course.
“At the moment he’s recovering from an injury, that’s why he’s not here,” Arteta said.
“He had a spell on loan and we wanted to get more from that loan spell. We’ll have to see when he comes back, have a chat with him, understand what his plans are and make a decision.”
Either way, it’s a disappointing end to Pepe’s career with Arsenal, which initially promised so much.