It appears that Arsenal are finally going to be able to get rid of Nicolas Pépé, at least temporarily.
That’s because the Ivory Coast international ‘has chosen’ to join OGC Nice on loan without an option to buy.
The news comes from Nice-Matin, who explain the player could have even been in the south of France on Tuesday after the Ligue 1 side and Arsenal had ‘reached an agreement’ for the above formula with the French club taking on some of his wages.
However, Leicester then ‘entered the dance with a loan offer’ of their own, but they wanted to take on all of his wages.
That was, of course, far more enticing for Arsenal, but that wasn’t the case for the forward, who wanted to ‘leave the Premier League’ for the south of France.
Right now, all that’s missing is the green light from the Gunners, who have yet to give it.
Nice-Matin make it clear, however, that from the Ligue 1 side’s end, ‘optimism was in order’ on Wednesday regarding the ‘favourable outcome’ of the deal.
Soon after that article came out, L’Equipe published an article saying the deal was done, with the two clubs having ‘finalised their agreement’ for the loan without an option to buy.
