On February 21st, we covered a report from Mundo Deportivo, who discussed five possible summer targets for Barcelona in attacking positions.
One of them was Nicolas Pepe of Lille and another Catalan publication Sport has a detailed report about the Ivory Coast international in today’s edition of the newspaper.
It’s explained the La Liga winners have not identified the ‘big goal’ for the next season as they look at various players.
They are following Pepe’s progress and have already taken ‘two major decisions regarding the player’, which includes direct contact with his environment.
The Spanish champions have maintained a good relationship with Lille and their president Gerard Lopez, which has opened a path for communication.
Bojan Krkic Sr, the father of Stoke City forward Bojan Krkic, is a part of Barcelona’s technical team and in the last five matches he has closely watched Pepe in action, both in home and away matches.
The reports have been excellent for the Ligue 1 forward, who is capable of playing up front or on the wings.
After receiving information that there are other clubs chasing the African star, technical secretary Eric Abidal has established contact with Pepe’s agent and has informed him about Barcelona’s ‘enormous interest’ in his client.
So far, no decision has been made on Pepe because they have to evaluate other operations, both in terms of incoming and outgoing.
Lille are aware it will be difficult to retain Pepe beyond this season and he is valued at around €60m.
