Now that Newcastle United have been officially promoted to the Premier League, they can start planning for next season, looking at targets they wouldn’t have managed to obtain in the Championship back in January.
One of those was Angers’ Nicolas Pépé, also a target for Hull City, who was the subject of a spate of bids towards the end of the transfer window.
The 21-year-old eventually stayed at the Ligue 1 club in order to finish off his season, recently helping them the Coupe de France final where they will face Paris Saint-Germain in May.
However, as explained by Angers’ director of football Olivier Pickeu, Nicolas Pépé will be allowed to leave in the summer, having reached a gentleman’s agreement with the forward.
Whether Newcastle or Hull return for him in the summer remains to be seen, but with clubs still interested in him, something confirmed by Pickeu, they very well could.
Yet, both Marco Silva and Rafael Benitez might have a lot of convincing to do very quickly if they want to bring Pépé to the KCOM Stadium or St James’ Park, as SportMania in Ivory Coast report Angers are currently have intense discussions with Lyon regarding their promising forward.
With a contract running out in 2019, there is no rush for Angers to sell, but if the player wants to leave, they will not stand in his way.
Marseille, with their ambitious project, are also said to be keen on the Ivory Coast international.
