Newcastle United have been told to take a risk-free gamble Nicolas Pepe amid loan speculation linking the Arsenal winger to Tyneside.
Noel Whelan told Football Insider a loan move would be the "safest" for the Magpies with Mikel Arteta reportedly happy to let their record signing leave the Emirates.
Football London claim the Gunners would be willing to sell their £72million man for just £25million in January.
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Pepe has been on the fringes of Arteta's squad this season and could depart to make way for Juventus winger Dejan Kulusevski.
Whelan has told Newcastle a loan move for the Ivorian would give him a second bite of the cherry. He said: “I think if you’re going to take a chance on Nicolas Pepe, we know there’s a player there. We know that there’s a skillful winger in him.
“A loan move is the safest move you can make. You’ve got to make sure that you get a player in, you see how he settles and you see his performances.
“Only then can you judge him on the fact that you want to spend £25million. Right now, Arsenal are offloading him or wanting to offload him for a reason. Because he’s not done it.
“That is the reason why players bought for big money are then very shortly after loaned out or sold. Because they’ve just not done it for the club that spent the cash.
“For Newcastle and the likes of Everton, to give him the opportunity, to give them that second bite of the cherry in the Premier League, the loan move is the safest move to go down.
“You’re not wasting any money. All you’re paying is a percentage of the wages. Then, at the end of the season, you can assess the situation.”
