Lille president Gérard Lopez has confirmed that Arsenal bound winger Nicolas Pepe has left the Ligue 1 club, with a deal set to be made official within the next 24 hours.
It has been no secret that Unai Emery has been on the search for a wide man this summer, with names such as Wilfried Zaha, Ryan Fraser and Yannick Carrasco all emerging as targets for the Spaniard.
But Lille winger Nicolas Pepe quickly became the number one target, and it seems that the Arsenal boss has got his wish in bringing the Ivorian to the Emirates Stadium.
The 24-year-old raised eyebrows by scoring 22 goals and providing 11 assists in the French league last season, and Arsenal have beaten off a number of European clubs in order to secure the signing.
Speaking on RMC (via Get French Football News ), the French club's presidet Lopez has spoken about the deal that will see Pepe join Arsenal.
“He is the one who made the decision, I think it should be (made official) in the next 24 hours," he said.
"It is €80m fixed. If we pushed this deal out a little bit longer, we could have had 5 or 6 offers of the same size.
"Through discussions with Nico and his agents, things focused on the certain clubs that we wanted to focus on, the two projects that interested the player.”
It is believed that Arsenal will pay the fee in installments over the next few years in order to stick to their strict transfer budget.
Once the move is made official, Pepe will join up with his new teammates, including Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette, with whom he will e hoping to form a deadly trio with, ahead of the Premier League opener against Newcastle on Sunday August 11th .
