Arsenal are linked with moves for two more Lille players at present, but with the jury still out on Nicolas Pepe, would that be a wise decision?
Our club made the Ivory Coast international our club record signing last summer, splashing out £72 Million, and he has yet to hit the level that was expected.
Pepe scored 22 goals in his last season in France, and our club would be wise to try their best to get the best out of him, but this is the Premier League, and some players styles simply do not translate for some reason.
We are now linked with moves for two more Lille stars, one of which was bought after Pepe’s departure however, but the fact that he hit the ground running in France should tell you that he fit straight into the philosophy instilled in Lille.
Victor Osimhen has scored 13 goals in his first 25 Ligue 1 outings, and the 21 year-old is attracting interest from a number of clubs. His club are supposedly in line for a whopping £89 Million fee should they sell this summer, which tells me that Arsenal will be out of the running, but how much they would be willing to accept is another story.
Jonathon Ikone was his team-mate last season however, and paired well with Pepe as they fired their side to finish second in Ligue 1, earning entry to the Champions League.
The two stars are both still only 21, and certainly look to have bright futures ahead of them, but would their arrivals boost our chances of getting the best out of current club record signing Pepe, or simply put more pressure on him with us seemingly trying to centre the team around him?
Patrick
