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#2 One of Europe’s most sought after commodities
I don’t remember the last time Arsenal signed a player that every top team in Europe wanted. The closest they’ve got to that situation is when Mesut Ozil was pushed out of Real Madrid, but even at that, not many clubs were aware that Carlo Ancelotti no longer wanted the German. Alexis Sanchez was another great coup for the club, but not many of Europe’s elites were after him either. Nicolas Pepe is an entirely different story.
Every top club in Europe has been monitoring the progress of Nicolas Pepe across the season, a season that saw him completely light up Ligue 1. These clubs weren’t just monitoring his progress, they were also negotiating fees with his agent.
Manchester United, Paris Saint-Germain, Napoli, Liverpool, Barcelona and Napoli all had an interest in the 24-year-old. Two of them even went as far to agreeing on the £72m fee with Lille, only for Raul Sanllehi to swoop in at the last second and offer a more appealing package to Pepe’s agent.
