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Newcastle United want to take Nicolas Pepe on loan in January.
The 26-year old Ivorian was Arsenal’s record signing when he joined the club in 2019 from Lille for a fee of around £73 million, but he has rarely justified the transfer fee paid for him, and has had to content himself largely with a place on the bench, with Bukayo Saka have supplanted him in his favoured right-wing position.
The Gunners have a choice to make about Pepe at the end of the season, when he will have two years left on his current deal, and it is increasingly looking like they will sell him although they accept they will not get anything like what they originally paid for the winger.
Newcastle are not prepared to sign him permanently, but they do want a loan deal as Eddie Howe looks to try and steer them away from the relegation battle, although both Everton and Crystal Palace are also monitoring his situation.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.