Arsenal: Nicolas Pepe transfer about so much more off the pitch

Arsenal target Nicolas Pepe has a wide open door and a shiny price tag, but being able to secure his signature means even more off the pitch than on.

Arsenal have proven this year that they desperately need a winger. The way they play when utilizing width far outdoes the way they play when confined narrowly behind any combination of creative attacking midfielders.

Nicolas Pepe and Ousmane Dembele have both stood out as potential targets, mostly by optimistic fans, but it is the former who appears more likely than the latter, even if only in the slightest.

Pepe has opened the door to a move this summer, and Lille have even set his asking price of £72.45m. Which, if that price tag gave you pause, you’re not alone. That would break every single transfer record in Arsenal history.

But what Pepe would mean on the pitch, while huge, would do nothing compared to what the deal would mean off of it.

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Every big club out there is in on Pepe. Every single one. And at that price, you’d have to give the edge to every other club except the Gunners.

When Arsene Wenger was still here, we always had the “Wenger factor,” where he would be able to sway players to the Emirates solely to play under him. It worked for Ozil, Alexis, and more. We obviously don’t have that factor anymore. Which is presumably why Wenger built the Emirates (with his bare hands, mind you) – so that after he was gone, we would be able to compete financially with the Bayern Munich’s out there.

With Unai Emery in charge, being able to prove financial clout – the likes of which we have literally never had – would signal to the world that Arsenal are to be feared in the transfer market, same as on the pitch.

That is a huge transfer fee, and one that I find impossible for the club to stump up. And that is how most other people will see it as well. Which is why it would be so groundbreaking to fork up the funds and sign Pepe. It would have the same effect that Mesut Ozil’s signing had – this belief that the days of budget signings were over.

We were wrong about that when Ozil signed, but there will be nothing “wrong” about it if that kind of fee is spent on Pepe. Everyone wants him, now show off the new direction of the club by being the ones to get him.