Arsenal have broken their transfer record to sign Ivorian winger Nicolas Pepe from Lille.
The 24-year-old signed a five-year contract in north London after the Gunners put the finishing touches on a structured deal that is worth approximately £72million.
That fee - to be paid in instalments with the club's transfer budget for the current summer standing at £40m - eclipses the £56m that Arsenal paid Borussia Dortmund for striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in January 2018.
Arsenal have beaten several other suitors - most notably Napoli - to the signing of Pepe, who join Lille from Angers in 2017, scoring 37 goals and providing 17 assists in 79 appearances across all competitions.
Last season, he netted 22 times to help Christophe Galtier's side achieve a second-place finish behind Paris Saint-Germain in Ligue 1 before representing the Ivory Coast at the Africa Cup of Nations.
Lille are said to be happy to receive the money for Pepe over a number of years as it will ensure they comply with the financial checks enforced by the Direction Nationale du Controle de Gestion, the organisation responsible for monitoring and overseeing the accounts of professional association football clubs in France.
Pepe is the fourth player to be recruited by Arsenal so far this summer, with fellow France-based talent William Saliba, a highly-rated young centre-back, signing last week before being loaned back to St Etienne as part of the deal and Spanish midfielder Dani Ceballos arriving on a season-long loan from Real Madrid.
In July, the Gunners completed the signing of Brazilian teenage forward Gabriel Martinelli from Ituano.
The deal for Pepe would appear to end Arsenal's pursuit of the player's international team-mate, Crystal Palace star Wilfried Zaha.
