Nicolas Pepe

Looks good this lad does, but my worry would be is he going to be as good in a much better league.
 
Always hard to judge in recent years we’ve had a few superstar names appear from France

Dembele ripped it up in Germany then has struggled at Barca.
Malcom has struggled at Barca
Lemar struggled at Atletico Madrid
Martial struggled at Utd after a bright start.

We’ve had major problems developing young players in recent years so I’ve got concerns about buying young players right now.

Who’s teaching these kids the right and wrong ways?

Utd need to do proper background research on these boys as the pressure that comes with the move to Utd is huge.
 
Malcolm was always going to struggle to be fair, he was ok in a pretty poor Bordeaux side.
 
Malcom at Barca, did well at Bordeaux, we were rumoured to be in for him
 
Hard to go from being the big fish in a small pond to being just another fish in an ocean.

The pressure at Utd is relentless it's broken plenty of players before that's why I think it's a risk for these kids to go straight from these teams to the very big teams.
 
Used to be a good young signing on FIFA!

Can’t say I know much about him as don’t really watch the Mickey Mou... I mean French league. Although I’ve read he’s being chased by a fair few big clubs so he must be doing something right!
 
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Scored 9 out of 10 penalties last season which could be of importance when considering VAR comes in next year. But also takes his goal tally for the season down to 13 if you remove penalties which doesn’t look impressive in the french league.

Also at 24 you aren’t really buying potential he needs to come in and be the real deal instantly.
 
13 for a winger is still decent for a young player and like it or not French League is still a pretty good league.

As always with these kids you aren't paying for what they are now but what they might be.

Everyone has great things to say about Pepe it sounds like he ticks a lot of boxes but the big question is will handing this kid a life changing amount of money turn his head because this has been a problem at Utd when signing these young players recently they haven't handled the move well.

Pepe also might have better options open to him he's on the radar for clubs like Liverpool and Bayern according to reports but they aren't prepared to pay the high price, maybe Utd have to make that decision now to get him in the door.

80m euro is a big number but if it's true my guess is a lot of that number would be add ons bit like Martial where we paid 50m euro up front then had 30m of add ons.
 
Not seen much of him apart from highlight reels here there and everywhere, looks like he has good feet with a fair bit of skill, also looks pretty quick, but he does seem a little rugged and unpolished, and like @IDFD said, at 24 you need to come in and get moving pretty quickly.
 
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So I've read today... could be just speculation that we are lining up Dembele to replace Lukaku. Absolutely no problem at all with that but it then suggests we prefer Dembele to Pepe because Pepe is a winger. But I'd earlier read that a winger was a position Ole wanted to add to.
 
Napoli looks likely mate
Looks like you were spot on. Apparently they have agreed a £72m fee for him.

Although I’m still reading some reports that other clubs are close to agreeing the same deal so this one may still have some legs.
 
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Think I was a little wrong with this, where the hell did Arsenal come from on this one ?

If they get the deal over the line, its a silly one for Arsenal, they need to worry more about their back line, not the front line.
 
Think I was a little wrong with this, where the hell did Arsenal come from on this one ?

If they get the deal over the line, its a silly one for Arsenal, they need to worry more about their back line, not the front line.

Only one prepared to gamble on the silly price Lille set a price only Arsenal and Napoli met it.

Guess they see him as a cheaper alternative to Zaha transfer fees are similar but my guess is wages and agent fee much reduced and Lille prepared to take instalments.

My guess is for Arsenal he was the plan B once they realised Zaha couldn’t happen and they desperately need a guy who can run at people in wide areas.
 

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