Lille president Gerard Lopez has confirmed Arsenal’s club-record €80million (£73m) move to sign Nicolas Pepe.
Arsenal are expected to announce Pepe’s arrival in the coming hours and the 24-year-old forward will reportedly agree to a five-year contract at the Emirates.
Unai Emery has been desperate to add a winger to his squad this summer and after Arsenal’s £40m bid for Wilfried Zaha was rejected, the club turned to Pepe, a player who took Ligue 1 by storm last season.
Napoli also registered a strong interest in Pepe, but the Ivorian opted instead to join the Gunners to become the most expensive African footballer in the history of the game.
On Wednesday evening, Lille president Lopez confirmed Pepe’s departure and revealed that Arsenal will make an official announcement over his arrival imminently.
‘He is the one who made the decision, I think it should be [made official] in the next 24 hours,’ Lopez told French outlet RMC Sport.
‘It is €80m fixed. If we pushed this deal out a little bit longer, we could have had five or six offers of the same size.
‘Through discussions with Nico and his agents, the situation focused on the certain clubs that we wanted to focus on: the two projects that interested the player.’
Earlier this week, a member of Pepe’s entourage explained just how close the attacker came to joining Napoli before Arsenal’s ‘sporting project’ won him over.
‘After meeting and discarding several clubs, Nicolas Pepe was able to choose between Naples and Arsenal,’ one of Pepe’s close associates told Ivorian publication Sport Mania.
‘I won’t lie to you: a total agreement was almost reached with Napoli.
‘But Arsenal’s offer was more convincing, both financially and in terms of the sporting project.’
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