https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/49137976

Arsenal have reached an agreement with French club Lille to sign Ivory Coast winger Nicolas Pepe in a deal worth 80m euros (£72m).

The Gunners will pay for the 24-year-old via a series of instalments that suit their restricted budget for this summer.

An agreement between Arsenal and Pepe's representatives still needs to be finalised.

But the transfer is expected to be completed in the next 24 to 48 hours.

Italian side Napoli also met Lille's asking price, but their proposal was rejected by the player's camp.

Pepe tends to operate on the right wing and cut in on to his left foot, but can also be used as a striker in a 4-4-2 formation.

He scored 23 goals for Lille last season and satisfies Arsenal's need for a wide player with pace and high technical ability.

Arsenal offered £40m for Crystal Palace's Ivory Coast winger Wilfried Zaha earlier this month, but their Premier League rivals value the player at about £80m.

HomeSteak wrote:

Done. Confirmed by Orny. 80 fucking milion.

Jesus Christ I almost shat myself reading this

Had to dig out my Tolly password just to say :opti: 

Muswell Hill Gooner wrote:

Quincy Abeyie wrote:

What the fuck, where did we get money from?

Pure speculation on my part but i think the organisation of the fans got Josh shook.
https://footballspotlite.com/josh-kroenke-admits-criticism-over-arsenal-leadership-hard-to-take/
The "wecaredoyou" letter was perfectly timed for maximum effect at his home in Denver where American fans reinforced it by directly heckling Stan in his box during the game against his Rapids. I think this helped Josh convince mummy and daddy to give him some of the loose change he happily affords to his American teams.
Tie up Tierney and get another good CB and any unzipping will be justified.

I don't know - whatever you think of Kroenke, he's not reactionary. Certainly not £80m reactionary - and then on top of that to go and brute force Lille into handing over Pepe, I feel that most of the credit goes to Raul here.

Fabrizio Romano
@FabrizioRomano
#Arsenal more about Pépé: no problem for the total agreement between clubs (€80M + add ons), talks ongoing with the player to complete personal terms. Arsenal are confident about the deal. Everything confirmed ?? #AFC #Arsenal #transfers

I've heard of this guy but never really seen him play so not sure what he's about. Obviously I'm not against these signings we always need to improve but we need quality centre backs and to get Mustafi out the door as a priority so slightly worried that's not been addressed.

I want to see us push and run with this guy. Beat opponents with pace.
Next week should be nothing but suicides. The entire team should be vomiting violently during practice.

Gunner89 wrote:

Fabrizio Romano
@FabrizioRomano
#Arsenal more about Pépé: no problem for the total agreement between clubs (€80M + add ons), talks ongoing with the player to complete personal terms. Arsenal are confident about the deal. Everything confirmed ?? #AFC #Arsenal #transfers

Where's the "here we go" fucking thing

jones wrote:

HomeSteak wrote:

Done. Confirmed by Orny. 80 fucking milion.

Jesus Christ I almost shat myself reading this

It is almost done, brother. The gods have favoured us. 

jones wrote:

Gunner89 wrote:

Fabrizio Romano
@FabrizioRomano
#Arsenal more about Pépé: no problem for the total agreement between clubs (€80M + add ons), talks ongoing with the player to complete personal terms. Arsenal are confident about the deal. Everything confirmed ?? #AFC #Arsenal #transfers

Where's the "here we go" fucking thing

Saves that when the total agreement is reached ie personal terms. Give it another few days 

Mirth wrote:

Muswell Hill Gooner wrote:

Pure speculation on my part but i think the organisation of the fans got Josh shook.
https://footballspotlite.com/josh-kroenke-admits-criticism-over-arsenal-leadership-hard-to-take/
The "wecaredoyou" letter was perfectly timed for maximum effect at his home in Denver where American fans reinforced it by directly heckling Stan in his box during the game against his Rapids. I think this helped Josh convince mummy and daddy to give him some of the loose change he happily affords to his American teams.
Tie up Tierney and get another good CB and any unzipping will be justified.

I don't know - whatever you think of Kroenke, he's not reactionary. Certainly not £80m reactionary - and then on top of that to go and brute force Lille into handing over Pepe, I feel that most of the credit goes to Raul here.

I don't know much more than you do but i'm going in the "pit bull had his leash taken off" direction.

Ricky1985 wrote:

GaelForce wrote:

Had to dig out my Tolly password just to say :opti: 

Now you're logged back in, post more! You're sorley missed.

Thanks mate, hope all's good with you. 

Even before this news I was feeling a lot more optimistic about the season. You can tell the new management team are the right combination of logical and ambitious - it seems they've tried to sell the right players (Ozil, Mustafi - even if they couldn't) and correctly identified the critical holes in the squad (a left back who can play in both directions, a centre back, a creative central midfielder and a winger who can dribble at pace). It might take a couple more years to completely replace the mistakes of 2014-2017, but we're moving in the right direction. 

Just need real football to come back now! 

jones wrote:

Gunner89 wrote:

Fabrizio Romano
@FabrizioRomano
#Arsenal more about Pépé: no problem for the total agreement between clubs (€80M + add ons), talks ongoing with the player to complete personal terms. Arsenal are confident about the deal. Everything confirmed ?? #AFC #Arsenal #transfers

Where's the "here we go" fucking thing

Fair play by the way, you are one of the only few who believed we could lure a player like him here. 

The 40m never made sense and now it's proven we have quite abit more than that even for installments. When you see small clubs paying huge fees you knew we had alot more than reported. Raul and camp played a blinder to lead the world to believe that we had very little money so as to get players for good value. 

Leno
Bellerin-??-Sokratis-Tierney
Ceballos-Torreira
Pepe-Ozil-Auba
Lacazette

Definitely good enough for 3rd on paper, need 2-3 players more to challenge for title.

Gunner89 wrote:

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/49137976

Arsenal offered £40m for Crystal Palace's Ivory Coast winger Wilfried Zaha earlier this month, but their Premier League rivals value the player at about £80m.

So we were happy to pay £80 Mn but not for Zaha. 

Well done Arsenal. Identified a position to be improved, targeted a couple of players and got one of them. Can't ask for more. Over to you Emery. As much as I would love a CB, I reckon we are happy giving Chambers a chance and waiting for Saliba next season.

Elephant in the room - Auba will still be wide (although he's pretty good on the right, that's Pepe's position.)

Clrnc wrote:

jones wrote:

Where's the "here we go" fucking thing

Fair play by the way, you are one of the only few who believed we could lure a player like him here. 

The 40m never made sense and now it's proven we have quite abit more than that even for installments. When you see small clubs paying huge fees you knew we had alot more than reported. Raul and camp played a blinder to lead the world to believe that we had very little money so as to get players for good value. 

Leno
Bellerin-??-Sokratis-Tierney
Ceballos-Torreira
Pepe-Ozil-Auba
Lacazette

Definitely good enough for 3rd on paper, need 2-3 players more to challenge for title.

Yep, need two new centre backs and jury's still out on Torreira.

Rohit wrote:

Gunner89 wrote:

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/49137976

Arsenal offered £40m for Crystal Palace's Ivory Coast winger Wilfried Zaha earlier this month, but their Premier League rivals value the player at about £80m.

So we were happy to pay £80 Mn but not for Zaha. 

Crystal Palace wouldn't accept the payment to be made in installments. 

Segway wrote:

Rohit wrote:

So we were happy to pay £80 Mn but not for Zaha. 

Crystal Palace wouldn't accept the payment to be made in installments. 

They would. Every transfer in the world is paid by installments. Big difference paying 80m in installments and 40m in installments.

Ricky1985 wrote:

Yep, didn't last long.

[Twitter]

Arsenal shutting it down so quickly is an attempt to manage supporter's expectations. It's better than letting fans think it's possible I suppose.

Sounds like Ornstein has been played like a fiddle this month.

Bring Back Kerrea Gilbert wrote:

Elephant in the room - Auba will still be wide (although he's pretty good on the right, that's Pepe's position.)

For now. Get another winger next summer and play with 1 striker

If Auba hits his Dortmund form, our firepower will be crazy with only Xhaka and our defence working against the team but we will do well to celebrate St Totteringham's if Levy pulls the below off
https://www.lanacion.com.ar/deportes/futbol/dybala-lo-celso-buscados-tottenham-ofrece-150-nid2271044

Can't help but feel that this also probably means there's a couple of players about to leave too. Whatever the spin about how much money we actually have, I find it difficult to believe the Kroenkes don't have a plan to balance the books.

Shady wrote:

Ricky1985 wrote:

Yep, didn't last long.

[Twitter]

Arsenal shutting it down so quickly is an attempt to manage supporter's expectations. It's better than letting fans think it's possible I suppose.

Sounds like Ornstein has been played like a fiddle this month.

Yeah come to think of it dont think Orny has ever shut down a rumour straight away so quickly. Arsenal was worried.

He's not anymore. Almost certain of it.

Clrnc wrote:

Segway wrote:

Crystal Palace wouldn't accept the payment to be made in installments. 

They would. Every transfer in the world is paid by installments. Big difference paying 80m in installments and 40m in installments.

Suppose you're right. It's confusing to keep track of all the rumours. 

Clrnc wrote:

jones wrote:

Where's the "here we go" fucking thing

Fair play by the way, you are one of the only few who believed we could lure a player like him here. 

jones wrote:

That no sources having Bert from sesame street lookalike Ornstein can go fuck himself. I'm staying put on this train

Pepe 2019

Cheers man, I almost forgot about this post myself. I always said the wages excuses don't fly with me, if we ever had a 40m limit it was self imposed and not because we really can't afford more.

We beat Bayern Liverpool United Napoli and God knows who else for the hottest player on the market in Europe. We're Arsenal fucking Football Club no barren spells or dry patches will see some shithouse club down the road on some powershift delusion surpass us. We're still the fucking Arsenal.

Wonder if this means Lacazette is on his way out or we feel confident of shifting 2-3 other players for a reasonable fee like Chambers and maybe Kolasinac. With Inter and Juventus fighting over Lukaku, maybe it's a good time to ship Laca to one of them.

Ricky1985 wrote:

To be fair to Josh Kroenke. He said something like "we can't buy the best players in the world, but we are trying to bring in the players that are going to be the best players in the world."

Pépé is exactly that for me.

Yes, Ricky Yes! This is a player I can get behind us splashing the dosh for.

Well done Arsenal! Got us a wing merlin!

Ricky1985 wrote:

To be fair to Josh Kroenke. He said something like "we can't buy the best players in the world, but we are trying to bring in the players that are going to be the best players in the world."

Pépé is exactly that for me.

Come on Kroenke Sr or Jr both have nothing to do with it, this transfer is most likely down to Raul and Raul alone, a player this well known and we pulled it off means a couple of agent palms were greased most likely.

Also Pepe dragged Lille to 2nd last season mostly by himself, 22 goals and 11 assists in the league alone is very much top shelf already to me even if he still has another gear or two in him

Something does have to give, I agree. Laca/Xhaka are the most obvious.

Rohit wrote:

Gunner89 wrote:

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/49137976

Arsenal offered £40m for Crystal Palace's Ivory Coast winger Wilfried Zaha earlier this month, but their Premier League rivals value the player at about £80m.

So we were happy to pay £80 Mn but not for Zaha. 

Pepe was the best player in Ligue 1 outside PSG. He typically plays right wing. Left dominant with many special attributes that will serve us well. 

• He brings the dribbling ability we sorely lack. Very high dribbles per match, attracts about 3 fouls per match so will bring us good dead-ball opportunities. 

• He's a double-threat to defenders with a goal or assist every game on average. Because of his dribbles (2 per game) he can get past defenders to score, but he also creates a lot of chances (2 key passes and 30 passes per game). Just gives us a fluidity we are lacking up top 

• Excellent shooter. Opens his body up like Theo from the top of the box 

• Incredibly fast. Paired with his dribbling it means he can just blow past a couple of defenders in a second. Hopefully, Xhaka and Ceballos can set him up quickly and he gallop with Aubemayang

• Look for him to cut in from the right often, pull out out defenders and create space for the strikers/AMs. Also look for him cutting in to meet Ozil/Ceballos through-balls 

• Only obvious area for improvement is that he is really takes responsibility and in so doing loses the ball a fair amount. Will need to cede control to Ozil etc more. 

In summary, if it happens, this is the biggest signing in the Premier League this summer. Bigger than Rodri. Bigger than Maguire and Ndombele. The £72m is the going rate for an elite AM which is what Pepe is becoming.

Really really like that we have two top tier strikers in the ranks; pretty much every title winning team in recent years has had that. Would be a shame if we sold Laca before a fire sale of the other players. I sense some truth to the Barcelona rumors.

It's definitely not a coincidence we speed up our transfers right after all the fans displeasure. We might have been working on it but so many pressure meant they gave the greenlight to spend that little bit more to get it over the line and not leave it to the last minute.

jones wrote:

Ricky1985 wrote:

To be fair to Josh Kroenke. He said something like "we can't buy the best players in the world, but we are trying to bring in the players that are going to be the best players in the world."

Pépé is exactly that for me.

Come on Kroenke Sr or Jr both have nothing to do with it, this transfer is most likely down to Raul and Raul alone, a player this well known and we pulled it off means a couple of agent palms were greased most likely.

Also Pepe dragged Lille to 2nd last season mostly by himself, 22 goals and 11 assists in the league alone is very much top shelf already to me even if he still has another gear or two in him

I watched him slay PSG

Come on Clrnc, I don't think the owners are that soft. It's just because we're getting closer to the end of the window.

jones wrote:

Ricky1985 wrote:

To be fair to Josh Kroenke. He said something like "we can't buy the best players in the world, but we are trying to bring in the players that are going to be the best players in the world."

Pépé is exactly that for me.

Come on Kroenke Sr or Jr both have nothing to do with it, this transfer is most likely down to Raul and Raul alone, a player this well known and we pulled it off means a couple of agent palms were greased most likely.

Also Pepe dragged Lille to 2nd last season mostly by himself, 22 goals and 11 assists in the league alone is very much top shelf already to me even if he still has another gear or two in him

Ricky is more likely to be right as Raul doesn't have the authority to spend £80 million of Kroenke's money like that.
If Gazidis is still chief executive, Stan is not loosening his pursestrings.

If this happens, it will be quite a big week (or so) for us. Ceballos (even if only a loan), Saliba and Pepe. Those are 3 pretty big deals to happen in such a short time period. Ideally we need another player or 2 (Tierney would be great, but doubt it happens now) or someone at CM.. But this kind of signing shows intent at least. That's something we just havent had in quite a while