How £72m Arsenal flop Nicolas Pepe is STILL costing Gunners money despite joining Trabzonspor after contract ripped up
NICOLAS PEPE is still set to cost Arsenal a further £10million, despite joining Trabzonspor earlier this week.
The Gunners agreed a deal to fork out a then club-record £72m for Pepe in 2019.
To do the deal, Arsenal pledged to pay the transfer fee in instalments.
Mikel Arteta‘s side are understood to still owe Lille the final £10m of the fee – with Pepe’s absence not changing the structure of the initial deal.
Right winger Pepe fell down the pecking order at the Emirates soon after the emergence of Bukayo Saka in the same position.
The Ivorian hasn’t played for the Gunners since May 2022, scoring 27 goals in 122 appearances in total.
After being left as an unused sub in their first two matches of last season, Pepe was sent out on loan to Nice.
He played 28 times for the Ligue 1 side, scoring eight times.
Arsenal boss Arteta refused to re-integrate Pepe into his first team squad during pre-season, despite no suitors emerging.
After failing to secure a transfer fee for their former record signing, the Gunners agreed to terminate his contract in order to let him join Trabzonspor for free.
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Pepe, 28, has signed a one-year contract with the Turkish side.
He has become the latest Arsenal outcast to have their contract terminated during Arteta’s reign.
The winger follows in the footsteps of Mesut Ozil, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Shkodran Mustafi, Sead Kolasinac, Willian and Hector Bellerin.
Arsenal spent over £200million on new signings this summer, including a club-record for £115m for Declan Rice.
They only managed to recoup around £57m, however, with Folarin Balogun joining Monaco and Granit Xhaka moving to Bayer Leverkusen.