Arsenal Transfers: Grading all 6 summer purchases

3. Nicolas Pepe — A+

Never in my life, and never in a lot of people’s lives, did we see this move happening. Fresh off of submitting a bid for less than half of what Crystal Palace wanted for Wilfried Zaha, the Gunner secured a team-record deal for Nicolas Pepe worth £72m.

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That is amazing enough, but the more amazing part is simply that we were able to structure the deal in such a way that it would even be possible. Here we are, paying for a massive signing like this in installments. Apparently we’re only paying £20m up front and the rest will be paid in the next four years, which makes such a massive deal completely manageable. Honestly, I didn’t even know you could make deals that you pay off in installments, but here we went and did it.

Despite being 24, Pepe has only just burst onto the world footballing stage, and if you look at what Lille have done with wingers coming to England in the past, it’s even more reason to be excited. Pepe looks a lot like Hazard, and that’s a steep ask, but it’s not impossible.

There is still a bit for Pepe to develop on an individual level, but his overall product is already so solid and reliable that I have to believe his impact is going to be seen early, often and consistently.

And Pepe wasn’t the last one! Moving on to our deadline day deals.