Arsenal have agreed a deal with Nice for a season-long loan, football.london understands.
The Ivorian arrived as the Gunners club record signing back in 2019 for a fee of £72 million and has gone on to make 112 appearances, scoring 27 times and helping the club to FA Cup success in 2020. However, he has fallen out of favour under Mikel Arteta and failed to start a single game for Arsenal after returning from the Africa Cup of Nations in January of this year.
Despite featuring in pre-season, Arsenal were open to letting the 25-year-old leave and have agreed a deal to allow Pepe to join Nice for the season without an option to buy. The move is now expected to progress quickly and football.london understands that it is likely to be completed within the next 48 hours.
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Pepe arrived in the summer of 2019 with big expectations but has failed to live up to the hype during a frustrating period in North London. After not being then-manager Unai Emery's first choice, the Ivorian found himself behind Bukayo Saka in the pecking order after Arteta was appointed in charge in December of that year.
Since then he has found consistent game time hard to come by, and speaking last week, Arteta hinted it was possible that the Ivorian could leave. “What we can communicate we always do when it’s the right moment," the Spaniard told reporters ahead of Arsenal's clash with Bournemouth. "We discussed that we have a big squad and we’ve made some decisions and allowed some players to leave. Until the end of the window it’s possible that anything can happen with any player.”
Pepe will now join Nice for the remainder of the season. Les Aiglons are hopeful of having him in their squad in time for the Ligue 1 clash with Marseille on Sunday, where Arsenal's Nuno Tavares is currently on loan.
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