Nicolas Pepe - Signs for Arsenal

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Jimmy_Bond

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If the plan is to buy Sancho eventually (which will cost north of £100m) it would be ludicrous to spend £72m on Pepe. Look what Klopp did when he couldn't sign VVD, he waited and didn't waste the money set aside until VVD was available.

If you sign Pepe and he flops, then Sancho goes to Madrid next year people will be going crazy.

However rich the club is, you can't be spending £200m on transfers every summer. We are seeing now how this is just not sustainable. Time for all clubs to be more careful in the market, and, heaven forbid develop and improve the players still at the club (young and those bought for large sums of money by other players. Can't just be writing off £50m here and £50m there on players like Fred. £50m is around 9 percent of the clubs income per year, which is a significant portion).
 
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JPRouve

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That’s what was reported at the time, either that or he had informal agreement with the club he could leave for £35m or whatever it was.

[edit]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/17371523

Matt Spiro reports there he has one but I have heard as well that those clauses are not allowed in France
These reports are nonsense, too many journalists are absolute jokers. Some are still selling the idea that Neymar has a buy out clause.

What generally happens, is that clubs and players will have a gentleman agreement. Benzema is an example, Aulas told him that he was free to leave if someone offered 35m and that he could chose whoever he wanted even if other clubs offered more.
 

giorno

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From what little info is available Palace wanted money up front while Lille are accepting it staggered and with add ons. I do believe the interest in Zaha was genuine and if we had managed to strike a deal we wouldn’t be signing Pepe.
It would be very weird if that were the reason why you'd go for Pepe instead of Zaha. Even if you were short on cash with your revenue i can't see how that could be an issue.

But then again, your owner is Kroenke, so it could be anything really...
 

Mastadon

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It would be very weird if that were the reason why you'd go for Pepe instead of Zaha. Even if you were short on cash with your revenue i can't see how that could be an issue.

But then again, your owner is Kroenke, so it could be anything really...
Having Kroenke as an owner is the no 1 reason why making a 80m signing on a 45m budget is such a big surprise.

Regarding our financial status the club has always been overly conservative with money which cost us in the late Wenger years. Not spending money when we could have and using the stadium as an excuse despite our massive cash reserves and annual profit has always been ridiculous to me.
 

Ole’s Wheel

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Sounds like a post of sour grapes since Arsenal will be getting him. No guarantee that Sancho will come here next season. In fact, I'll guarantee you that he WILL NOT join United at all. Pepe is a good player and we again let him get away like we did with Tielemans, Ndombele and now Pepe.
Nope no sour grapes.

If you checked, the post is from a week ago when Arsenal weren’t even in the conversation and it was United as front runners ;)
 

cesc's_mullet

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Having Kroenke as an owner is the no 1 reason why making a 80m signing on a 45m budget is such a big surprise.

Regarding our financial status the club has always been overly conservative with money which cost us in the late Wenger years. Not spending money when we could have and using the stadium as an excuse despite our massive cash reserves and annual profit has always been ridiculous to me.
Especially when they (Gazidis, I think) said that we would have a few hard years due to Thu stadium transition, but would then reap the rewards.
 

Che Guevara

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It would be very weird if that were the reason why you'd go for Pepe instead of Zaha. Even if you were short on cash with your revenue i can't see how that could be an issue.

But then again, your owner is Kroenke, so it could be anything really...
I can understand why Arsenal went for Pepe in the end. Payment in instalments, Pepe was one of the best players in Ligue 1 last season who outperformed the likes of Neymar and Cavani by a long mile and was MOTM more than 10 times including when he destroyed PSG, and was easily the key player in Lille finishing second. On the other hand Palace are charging ransom upfront for Zaha who is 2 yrs older. It is a very easy choice and a brilliant piece of business for Arsenal if they get him. What's weird is that their plan B is actually better than their plan A.
 

el3mel

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Sounds like a post of sour grapes since Arsenal will be getting him. No guarantee that Sancho will come here next season. In fact, I'll guarantee you that he WILL NOT join United at all. Pepe is a good player and we again let him get away like we did with Tielemans, Ndombele and now Pepe.
Don't City have a buy black clause in Sancho's contract with BVB ?

https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...er-news/man-city-jadon-sancho-clause-15256640

Yeah he's not coming.
 

giorno

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I can understand why Arsenal went for Pepe in the end. Payment in instalments, Pepe was one of the best players in Ligue 1 last season who outperformed the likes of Neymar and Cavani by a long mile and was MOTM more than 10 times including when he destroyed PSG, and was easily the key player in Lille finishing second. On the other hand Palace are charging ransom upfront for Zaha who is 2 yrs older. It is a very easy choice and a brilliant piece of business for Arsenal if they get him. What's weird is that their plan B is actually better than their plan A.
Again, payment structure being the reason why they'd go for Pepe instead of Zaha makes very little sense. Far more likely they just thought Pepe was worth that money and Zaha was not
 

cesc's_mullet

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Again, payment structure being the reason why they'd go for Pepe instead of Zaha makes very little sense. Far more likely they just thought Pepe was worth that money and Zaha was not
It does make sense if Crystal Palace were asking for a larger portion of the fee up front, compared to what Lille are asking for. Especially if the limited budget rumours are true, as they are still in for Tierney.

Maybe they also thought he was a better player for that price.
 

El-Manos

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We should have been in for him considering our desperate state in that position. I hope at least Greenwood will get the RW spot.
 

KristianMackle

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Why is this thread still going on? We lost him. Great signing for Arsenal. Now we move on. Lingard or Mata or Greenwood will make it theirs
 

NJM78

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Why is this thread still going on? We lost him. Great signing for Arsenal. Now we move on. Lingard or Mata or Greenwood will make it theirs
This bit is a joke right?
Lingard and Mata after years of trying and failing will make it theirs. They are terrible right attackers.

Greenwood hopefully gets a chance but I highly doubt it.
 

KristianMackle

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This bit is a joke right?
Lingard and Mata after years of trying and failing will make it theirs. They are terrible right attackers.

Greenwood hopefully gets a chance but I highly doubt it.
Yes it was a joke; sarcasm if you will.
Mourinho would've tried for players like Pepe and Bruno. Ole prefers Longstaff. Not saying I want Jose back but this is where we are now.
 

NJM78

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Yes it was a joke; sarcasm if you will.
Mourinho would've tried for players like Pepe and Bruno. Ole prefers Longstaff. Not saying I want Jose back but this is where we are now.
Good I was actually worried you were serious :lol:

It's just a terrible window to be fair, we are in for an equally depressing season.
 

giorno

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It does make sense if Crystal Palace were asking for a larger portion of the fee up front, compared to what Lille are asking for. Especially if the limited budget rumours are true, as they are still in for Tierney.

Maybe they also thought he was a better player for that price.
Again, considering Kroenke is your owner, it might be that. But otherwise, i find that strange. Cash/payment structure usually doesn't have much to do with budget, not for a club as rich as arsenal at least.
 

VeevaVee

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Yes it was a joke; sarcasm if you will.
Mourinho would've tried for players like Pepe and Bruno. Ole prefers Longstaff. Not saying I want Jose back but this is where we are now.
I think it's becoming clear that Ole very much wants players but that we're not pursuing them or doing what needs to be done to get them.
 

DatIrishFella

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If the plan is to buy Sancho eventually (which will cost north of £100m) it would be ludicrous to spend £72m on Pepe. Look what Klopp did when he couldn't sign VVD, he waited and didn't waste the money set aside until VVD was available.

If you sign Pepe and he flops, then Sancho goes to Madrid next year people will be going crazy.

However rich the club is, you can't be spending £200m on transfers every summer. We are seeing now how this is just not sustainable. Time for all clubs to be more careful in the market, and, heaven forbid develop and improve the players still at the club (young and those bought for large sums of money by other players. Can't just be writing off £50m here and £50m there on players like Fred. £50m is around 9 percent of the clubs income per year, which is a significant portion).
This is a fantastic post btw.
 

ManRed

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Seems like it. It’s simple- when you don’t have a player for a position, you buy one. Unless Ole would much rather go with Rashford there (or one of the young guys) and Martial in the center. I very much hope so
Our current players have all been a flop in that position. And to put pressure on Greenwood would be unfair there. Its like every manager thinks they have a solution to the problem without understanding that they do not have the right tools.
 

Hawks2008

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If the plan is to buy Sancho eventually (which will cost north of £100m) it would be ludicrous to spend £72m on Pepe. Look what Klopp did when he couldn't sign VVD, he waited and didn't waste the money set aside until VVD was available.

If you sign Pepe and he flops, then Sancho goes to Madrid next year people will be going crazy.

However rich the club is, you can't be spending £200m on transfers every summer. We are seeing now how this is just not sustainable. Time for all clubs to be more careful in the market, and, heaven forbid develop and improve the players still at the club (young and those bought for large sums of money by other players. Can't just be writing off £50m here and £50m there on players like Fred. £50m is around 9 percent of the clubs income per year, which is a significant portion).
Ok but what if we continue to neglect the position and then next year Sancho again turns us down? It's all well and good saying 'wait for Sancho' but if he continues his good form next season for Dortmund and at the Euros he will have the attention of many major clubs. So yeah, if after another season with the gaping hole on the right Sancho decides he doesn't want to come here again we will be even more screwed.. Sancho is great and I'd be over the moon if he comes but he is not the only player who can improve us
 

Jimmy_Bond

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Ok but what if we continue to neglect the position and then next year Sancho again turns us down? It's all well and good saying 'wait for Sancho' but if he continues his good form next season for Dortmund and at the Euros he will have the attention of many major clubs. So yeah, if after another season with the gaping hole on the right Sancho decides he doesn't want to come here again we will be even more screwed.. Sancho is great and I'd be over the moon if he comes but he is not the only player who can improve us
I understand your point, but to me there is no excuse for the club not to finish in the top 4 and kick on this season. I don't buy into all of the doom and gloom. A ton of money has been invested into this squad over the last few years, and although some has clearly been recklessly squandered, there are others that have been criminally misused. I think Bale on a season's loan would be potentially a good idea (whilst we wait for our number one target), but then could he really participate in the high press that Ole clearly wants?

On the subject of Pepe, it's ridiculous that he's going for £72m after one good season in France. He could be the next Mane, but he could also be the next Gervinho, which I would suggest is more probable (or at least he'll be closer to Gervinho's level than Mane's.) Fees have got so ridiculous that it's right that the club are ultra careful with who they sign, as, like I said in my earlier post, you can't be spending £200m every summer. Considering this only gets you three top players nowadays, blowing £72m this summer on Pepe would be ludicrous, with potentially fatal consequences.

There are plenty of players who can use that RW spot as a place to develop, and it seems like Ole wants a front 3 who can interchange, and with Rashford, Martial, James, Greenwood, Chong, Alexis there is more than enough to fill these positions and be successful. It looks to me like the idea is to sign Sancho to be the number 7 and face of the club for the next decade, potentially. To achieve that, Ole needs to improve the squad that is currently there, which is full of players that cost a fortune, as well as young players for which much is hoped and expected.

Look at what Klopp did at Liverpool. He took a squad that was worse than what we have here at the moment, and had just finished eighth in the league, and with that squad finished fourth the next season. His only major addition that summer was Mane. The rest was the same squad that had just finished 8th. The next summer, having developed the players who were already at the club, he added Salah, Robertson (who generated less excitement upon signing than James has here) and the Ox. He then got them to a CL final, and only then, having sold Coutinho, did he splash big cash. He has been very patient with his club's recruitment policy. He knows he cannot sign tons of players and just hope they work out, so he makes very specific targets and waits until they are available. In the meantime, he develops other players to fill the role the best they can. It's called being a top manager.

Ole, or whichever manager we have, has to do the same. It's the same model under which Ferguson worked. The club has been reckless in the market in recent years, and now it's suffering the consequences. The rebuild is underway, but it's a slow rebuild, and it has to be ruthless and not squander hundreds of millions more on players on a whim. Identify ideal targets for the system that we want to incorporate, and if they aren't available, wait. If people think wasting £72m on a huge risk like Pepe because we can't get our number one target is a wise thing to do, or a change in policy to the one which has got us into this mess in the first place, then I really do despair.
 
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beingshe7don

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Ok but what if we continue to neglect the position and then next year Sancho again turns us down? It's all well and good saying 'wait for Sancho' but if he continues his good form next season for Dortmund and at the Euros he will have the attention of many major clubs. So yeah, if after another season with the gaping hole on the right Sancho decides he doesn't want to come here again we will be even more screwed.. Sancho is great and I'd be over the moon if he comes but he is not the only player who can improve us
Exactly my point.... Other players to consider for the RW could be Thauvin, Douglas Costa, Lozano.
 

He'sRaldo

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If the plan is to buy Sancho eventually (which will cost north of £100m) it would be ludicrous to spend £72m on Pepe. Look what Klopp did when he couldn't sign VVD, he waited and didn't waste the money set aside until VVD was available.

If you sign Pepe and he flops, then Sancho goes to Madrid next year people will be going crazy.

However rich the club is, you can't be spending £200m on transfers every summer. We are seeing now how this is just not sustainable. Time for all clubs to be more careful in the market, and, heaven forbid develop and improve the players still at the club (young and those bought for large sums of money by other players. Can't just be writing off £50m here and £50m there on players like Fred. £50m is around 9 percent of the clubs income per year, which is a significant portion).
Through tapping up, Klopp was basically guaranteed to sign VVD over everyone else in for him. Not our case with Sancho, as he could easily choose some other club while we stay stagnant, making eyes at him.

Waiting for the hope of Sancho, in our position, is a fool's game.
 

ManchesterYoda

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I would like to know why we couldn't have signed Pepe this summer AND Sancho next summer? If we ever want to be one the best teams in the world again we need to improve in every department apart from maybe GK and RB.

someone - someone - Pepe this season
Sancho - someone - Pepe next season

Keep improving and improving until we get a quality attack comparable with the other top teams in Europe
 

MyOnlySolskjaer

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Ok but what if we continue to neglect the position and then next year Sancho again turns us down? It's all well and good saying 'wait for Sancho' but if he continues his good form next season for Dortmund and at the Euros he will have the attention of many major clubs. So yeah, if after another season with the gaping hole on the right Sancho decides he doesn't want to come here again we will be even more screwed.. Sancho is great and I'd be over the moon if he comes but he is not the only player who can improve us
I agree, Sancho won’t be the only RW talent in the next 5 years, the same way he popped up a new player will shine and will probably become a target.
 

MyOnlySolskjaer

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I would like to know why we couldn't have signed Pepe this summer AND Sancho next summer? If we ever want to be one the best teams in the world again we need to improve in every department apart from maybe GK and RB.

someone - someone - Pepe this season
Sancho - someone - Pepe next season

Keep improving and improving until we get a quality attack comparable with the other top teams in Europe
It doesn’t really make sense to sign 2 players that favour playing the same position for big money consecutively, that’s been the issue with positions such as LW.
 

He'sRaldo

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I understand your point, but to me there is no excuse for the club not to finish in the top 4 and kick on this season. I don't buy into all of the doom and gloom. A ton of money has been invested into this squad over the last few years, and although some has clearly been recklessly squandered, there are others that have been criminally misused. I think Bale on a season's loan would be potentially a good idea (whilst we wait for our number one target), but then could he really participate in the high press that Ole clearly wants?

On the subject of Pepe, it's ridiculous that he's going for £72m after one good season in France. He could be the next Mane, but he could also be the next Gervinho, which I would suggest is more probably (or at least he'll be closer to Gervinho's level than Mane's.) Fees have got so ridiculous that it's right that the club are ultra careful with who they sign, as, like I said in my earlier post, you can't be spending £200m every summer. Considering this only gets you three top players nowadays, blowing £72m this summer on Pepe would be ludicrous, with potentially fatal consequences.

There are plenty of players who can use that RW spot as a place to develop, and it seems like Ole wants a front 3 who can interchange, and with Rashford, Martial, James, Greenwood, Chong, Alexis there is more than enough to fill these positions and be successful. It looks to me like the idea is to sign Sancho to be the number 7 and face of the club for the next decade, potentially. To achieve that, Ole needs to improve the squad that is currently there, which is full of players that cost a fortune, as well as young players for which much is hoped and expected.

Look at what Klopp did at Liverpool. He took a squad that was worse than what we have here at the moment, and had just finished eighth in the league, and with that squad finished fourth the next season. His only major addition that summer was Mane. The rest was the same squad that had just finished 8th. The next summer, having developed the players who were already at the club, he added Salah, Robertson (who generated less excitement upon signing than James has here) and the Ox. He then got them to a CL final, and only then, having sold Coutinho, did he splash big cash. He has been very patient with his club's recruitment policy. He knows he cannot sign tons of players and just hope they work out, so he makes very specific targets and waits until they are available. In the meantime, he develops other players to fill the role the best they can. It's called being a top manager.

Ole, or whichever manager we have, has to do the same. It's the same model under which Ferguson worked. The club has been reckless in the market in recent years, and now it's suffering the consequences. The rebuild is underway, but it's a slow rebuild, and it has to be ruthless and not squander hundreds of millions more on players on a whim. Identify ideal targets for the system that we want to incorporate, and if they aren't available, wait. If people think wasting £72m on a huge risk like Pepe because we can't get our number one target is a wise thing to do, or a change in policy to the one which has got us into this mess in the first place, then I really do despair.

I agree with the majority of this. IMO both Liverpool and ourselves have been unlucky to have a state-backed, Pep-led City winning almost every game as otherwise, we'd have each gotten a title (or who knows what else might have happened).


The problem with your reasoning is that at least from the looks of things currently, a lot of fans don't want to accept a slow rebuild and want a lot of money spent every window on flavour of the months. Of course it's not smart and unsustainable, but us fans don't think of that and consequently the pressure will mount on the manager every time we don't spend big. As we can already see happening.


Liverpool were already conditioned by decades of minimal success, so were willing to give Klopp time. We haven't reached that point, not even close, so the fans are currently more demanding; this makes a Liverpool-like model hard to follow.
 
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ManchesterYoda

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It doesn’t really make sense to sign 2 players that favour playing the same position for big money consecutively, that’s been the issue with positions such as LW.
Sancho
LW: 55 games 41 goals+assists = 1.34 games per goal/assist
RW: 37 games 28 goals+assists = 1.32 games per goal/assist

Sancho is highly effective playing both left and right and equally effective playing both left and right. He's only 19 and very likely to be become even better.
 

MyOnlySolskjaer

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Sancho
LW: 55 games 41 goals+assists = 1.34 games per goal/assist
RW: 37 games 28 goals+assists = 1.32 games per goal/assist

Sancho is highly effective playing both left and right and equally effective playing both left and right. He's only 19 and very likely to be become even better.
Right now I’d be furious if we are even considering another LW signing tbh. It’s becoming a joke.
 

George The Best

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I understand your point, but to me there is no excuse for the club not to finish in the top 4 and kick on this season. I don't buy into all of the doom and gloom. A ton of money has been invested into this squad over the last few years, and although some has clearly been recklessly squandered, there are others that have been criminally misused. I think Bale on a season's loan would be potentially a good idea (whilst we wait for our number one target), but then could he really participate in the high press that Ole clearly wants?

On the subject of Pepe, it's ridiculous that he's going for £72m after one good season in France. He could be the next Mane, but he could also be the next Gervinho, which I would suggest is more probable (or at least he'll be closer to Gervinho's level than Mane's.) Fees have got so ridiculous that it's right that the club are ultra careful with who they sign, as, like I said in my earlier post, you can't be spending £200m every summer. Considering this only gets you three top players nowadays, blowing £72m this summer on Pepe would be ludicrous, with potentially fatal consequences.

There are plenty of players who can use that RW spot as a place to develop, and it seems like Ole wants a front 3 who can interchange, and with Rashford, Martial, James, Greenwood, Chong, Alexis there is more than enough to fill these positions and be successful. It looks to me like the idea is to sign Sancho to be the number 7 and face of the club for the next decade, potentially. To achieve that, Ole needs to improve the squad that is currently there, which is full of players that cost a fortune, as well as young players for which much is hoped and expected.

Look at what Klopp did at Liverpool. He took a squad that was worse than what we have here at the moment, and had just finished eighth in the league, and with that squad finished fourth the next season. His only major addition that summer was Mane. The rest was the same squad that had just finished 8th. The next summer, having developed the players who were already at the club, he added Salah, Robertson (who generated less excitement upon signing than James has here) and the Ox. He then got them to a CL final, and only then, having sold Coutinho, did he splash big cash. He has been very patient with his club's recruitment policy. He knows he cannot sign tons of players and just hope they work out, so he makes very specific targets and waits until they are available. In the meantime, he develops other players to fill the role the best they can. It's called being a top manager.

Ole, or whichever manager we have, has to do the same. It's the same model under which Ferguson worked. The club has been reckless in the market in recent years, and now it's suffering the consequences. The rebuild is underway, but it's a slow rebuild, and it has to be ruthless and not squander hundreds of millions more on players on a whim. Identify ideal targets for the system that we want to incorporate, and if they aren't available, wait. If people think wasting £72m on a huge risk like Pepe because we can't get our number one target is a wise thing to do, or a change in policy to the one which has got us into this mess in the first place, then I really do despair.
Good newbie post Mr Bond. Agree with a lot of it, except the little bold bit. Right now the next transaction we make is likely to be selling Lukaku. That will leave us in a negative net spend situation. 10 days of the window left, we’ve got to hope that we’ve got all of our ducks in a row to launch a re-build from that position, given how slow we seem to be in the market.

Best wishes, hope you get your ‘likes’ soon enough.
 
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