Arsenal 'eager to move on Nicolas Pepe this summer'

Arsenal are reportedly prepared to let winger Nicolas Pepe leave the club this summer.

The 28-year-old became the Gunners' club-record signing in 2019 when he moved to the Emirates Stadium for £72m from French club Lille.

However, Pepe has failed to live up to his price tag and reach the heights expected in North London, and he was sent out on loan to Nice last season where he scored six goals in 19 Ligue 1 appearances.

The likes of Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, Reiss Nelson and Emile Smith Rowe were all ahead of Pepe in Mikel Arteta's plans before the 2022-23 campaign began, and he has since fallen further down the pecking order following the January arrival of Leandro Trossard.

Pepe has not been included in Arteta's squad for the pre-season tour of the USA and his days on the books of the Gunners appear to be limited.

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According to CBS Sports, Arsenal are eager to move Pepe on this summer, with an unnamed club in Saudi Arabia said to be interested in his services.

However, a proposed move to the Middle East is not imminent as the winger's wage demands are proving to be a stumbling block at present.

It is understood that Arsenal are willing to accept a nominal fee for Pepe or they may even consider terminating his contract, which runs until the summer of 2024, to remove his £7.3m-a-year salary off their wage bill.

Pepe recently acknowledged that he "was going mad" when he endured a peripheral role under Arteta in his second season at Arsenal, and he was frustrated to see former Gunners winger Willian – a new recruit at the time – consistently start ahead of him.

Speaking in an interview for Colinterview, as quoted by Football.London, Pepe said: "People say that [Arteta] identified me as a player that wasn't up to the level in his team, in his philosophy. It's completely false. When he arrived, he had [Manchester] City's philosophy. He had a squad that was filled with quality and backups in every position.

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"When he spoke to me, he said he counted on me, he wanted me to do this or that, and you have to focus on that. He improved me in every way. He spoke to me the whole time, I watched videos with his assistants all the time. He really believed in me.

"He said I had incredible potential, so we need to extract that potential. At the end of the first season, he spoke with me and told me to do this or that. The second season comes along, I was a substitute. I was going mad.

"How could I be a substitute when he said he counted on me? Everything is spinning in your head. I was a substitute. It was at the time when they signed Willian. He is a number 10 or a winger. But he plays on the wing for like 11 or 12 matches in a row."

Pepe is not the only Arsenal player who could be heading for the exit door as the likes of Thomas Partey, Kieran Tierney, Albert Sambi Lokonga, Cedric Soares and Folarin Balogun have also been linked with a summer departure, the latter of whom is allegedly wanted by Inter Milan and is valued at £50m.