Messi asks Barcelona not to sign top transfer target, Real Madrid confident of signing £255 million duo in the summer and more: Transfer News, 26 April 2019

Liverpool favourites to sign Nicolas Pepe

Nicolas Pepe has been one of the young stars of the 2018-19 season. The Ivory Coast international who plies his trade in the Ligue 1 with LOSC Lille has scored 19 goals and provided 13 assists this season and has been heavily linked with a move to one of the European elites.

Arsenal have been monitoring his growth for a while now. However, it looks like the Merseysiders will be able to put one over on their rivals as they are now leading the race to sign the 23-year-old. Liverpool could seal the deal for a sum of £59 million in the summer.

Pepe's departure in the summer is now inevitable after Lille president Gerard Lopez revealed that they will let him leave for the right amount of money. Lopez told Telefoot,

"Four or five players will be leaving this summer.

“All clubs are forced to balance their accounts except perhaps one. I would say yes, it is sure he [Pepe] will leave.

“He enters a price range that can no longer be paid. There is a career choice to make for him, I think he will have the choice."

About the author

Shambhu is a European and international football journalist at Sportskeeda who focuses on previews, listicles and news articles. An ardent Manchester United supporter since before his teenage years, he started following the Red Devils by age 10 watching MUTV on television. Shambhu is also a highly-revered rapper and a playback singer on Spotify, having a whopping 1 million monthly listeners.

For his articles, Shambhu believes in triple-checking every piece of information, relying on trusted websites like Transfermarkt and Opta, and staying away from speculative publications. He believes that his law degree helped him to be more articulate and meticulous with his content and one of his core strengths is seamlessly involving emotion in his write-ups owing to the love for the sport. For Sportskeeda, has done exclusive interviews with Spanish legends Gaizka Mendieta and Fernando Morientes so far, and his articles boast of a huge readership of close to 50 million.

Shambhu's favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and the Argentine attaining glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment. He believes only Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland could replicate Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo's rivalry in the years to come. His favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson due to the Scot's unmatched longevity at the top.

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Edited by Sripad