Noel Whelan believes that Newcastle should take a ‘gamble’ on Arsenal winger Nicolas Pepe with a loan-to-buy offer in the summer.
The Ivory Coast forward became Arsenal’s record signing in 2019 when he joined in a £72million deal from Lille, having scored 23 goals and added 12 assists during the 2018-19 Ligue 1 campaign.
Despite making an impressive start to life at The Emirates, Pepe has become somewhat of an enigmatic presence since – with the Gunners being tipped to cut their losses this summer.
Indeed, Mikel Arteta is already known to be looking at replacements for the 26-year-old.
Rumours have been circulating that Arsenal will accept an offer of around £25m for the attacker, with Newcastle tipped as potential suitors.
And former Leeds United star Whelan has a plan that could work for Eddie Howe’s men.
Speaking about Pepe, he told Football Insider: “He’s been a massive failure – that’s for sure.
“When you consider the money they paid for him, he’s been very average. It’s a really bad bit of business from Arsenal.
“If they can get £25 million for him, they need to be taking it – even if it’s a massive loss.
“Teams will be reluctant to pay that sort of fee for an inconsistent player like Pepe, though. It may well be a loan-to-buy deal.
Newcastle might fancy taking a gamble
“He’s really not contributed enough. Whether the Premier League is too tough for him? I don’t know – we know he came from France, which is a far easier…
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