Arsenal: Is Nicolas Pepe asking price worth everything?

Lille President Gerard Lopez has been discussing the price of Nicolas Pepe. It might take everything for Arsenal to sign him. Is it worth it?

I was watching Ajax dismantle Real Madrid on Tuesday night. At one point, I turned to my friend said, ‘ya know, if it cost Arsenal their whole budget to sign only Matthijs de Ligt this summer and they couldn’t sign another player, I would still want them to do it.’

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De Ligt will be one of the hottest names to watch this summer. He is being courted by some of the best teams in Europe. That, inevitably, will drive his price up, potentially to a point that the Gunners, should they want to make a run at signing him, can no longer compete at.

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Another who has been linked with a move to north London is Lille winger Nicolas Pepe. The attacker has been in scintillating form this season, scoring 16 goals and recording another eight assists in 27 league matches. That is a staggering record for any attacking player. For a 23-year-old playing in a team that isn’t Paris Saint-Germain, it is terrific, and, naturally, there are plenty of clubs sniffing around a summer transfer.

This week, Lille President Gerard Lopez has been discussing what it might take to lure Pepe away from the Stade Pierre Mauroy. Speaking with Canal Sport, Lopez stated:

"“That does not just depend on the club. It also depends on the player. He deserves to play at the highest level. We have offers yes. In England, there are clubs. We have had offers worth €50m. We will not sell for less, we have even refused a €50m bid. We had an offer from China worth €80m with an astronomical salary, but he didn’t want to go.”"

It is clear that any team wanting to sign Pepe will have to match that €80m bid from an unnamed Chinese club in the summer. Pepe has only improved this season and Lopez has not disclosed that figure for no reason. Arsenal, should they want to sign Pepe, must at the very least reach that figure.

As such, they will have to table an offer around £70 million, if not more. Given that there were reports earlier this season that Unai Emery may only have £45 million to play with in the window, Pepe, sadly, may drain the club of every single resource they have to throw at player recruitment. Like my de Ligt proposal, Pepe may cost everything. So, is he worth it?

Well, somehow, he might. Pepe has proven himself to be a world-class winger, the precise kind of player that this Arsenal team is in desperate need of. They do have other weaknesses, at centre-back, left-back and central midfield most specifically, but in signing a truly elite wide player like Pepe, some of those issues are negated a little. The defence will collectively improve with the threat Pepe poses on the outside.

It is, obviously, a difficult question to answer properly. Nobody really knows how good Pepe is, and even fewer know how he will fare in the Premier League. But if he is truly elite, one of the best wingers in world football, then he might just be worth every single penny Arsenal have.