Currently on international duty with the Ivory Coast national team at the Africa Cup of Nations, Nicolas Pépé isn’t thinking about a transfer.
Thankfully, he has people around him who are, and with every day that passes, we head closer to knowing where the 24-year-old will be playing next year.
Recurring links to Manchester United and Liverpool have been mentioned, but one club who haven’t been heard of in this saga for a while are Manchester City.
However, L’Equipe on Wednesday sat down with Gérard Lopez, the club’s president, and discussed where some deals were currently at, including that of their star winger.
He said: “We aren’t overvaluing him. We know the offers. I also wanted to get this done before the AFCON, but because his entourage asked, we waited a bit, and Nico told us he wanted to focus on the tournament. He also wants to chat with the managers. I’m not worried. We’ll see what happens.
“His entourage has a preferred destination (PSG). In itself, that isn’t an issue. Talks are ongoing with prestigious clubs (Liverpool, Inter, Manchester City) where he’ll be fine. Beyond that, everyone is allowed to have preferences.”
It isn’t made clear if the clubs mentioned by L’Equipe are just them filling in the gaps or simply what Lopez told them.
We’d be inclined to go with the former, as they could just be pushing their own information through the interview, and we’ll have to wait and see.
As for the Cityzens being thrown into the mix once more, it seems like an expensive addition for a team that already has Raheem Sterling, Riyad Mahrez and Bernardo Silva all capable of playing down that right hand side.
