Arsenal winger Nicolas Pepe will leave the club as a free agent for Turkish Super Lig outfit Besiktas in the next coming days.
The 28-year-old’s arrival at the Emirates Stadium in 2019 from Lille was highly anticipated by Gunners’ fans but the Ivorian was unable to deliver on a consistent basis and was first frozen out and then shipped out on loan to Nice by Mikel Arteta last summer.
Nicolas Pepe set to leave Arsenal permanently
According to Fabrizio Romano, the winger will not play for Arsenal again and is set to switch to Turkish side Besiktas imminently. Pepe joined the Gunners’ for a club-record fee of $86m four years ago under former boss Unai Emery and impressed during his second season at the Emirates- scoring 10 goals from just 29 Premier League appearances.
Turkish side Besiktas have now genuine interest in Nicolas Pépé — he’s out of the project at Arsenal and prepared to leave ⚪️⚫️🇹🇷 #Besiktas
Negotiations will take place in order to discuss structure of potential deal. pic.twitter.com/f5gZF2I3x8
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 2, 2023
However, the emergence of England winger Bukayo Saka and Pepe’s perceived poor work rate defensively hampered the Ivorian international’s chances under Arteta, and his contract is set to be canceled a year early in order to ease a swift transition to the Turkish giants who are set to appear in the UEFA Conference League this season.
