L’Équipe report this morning that Lille have received their 1st concrete offer for Ivorian forward Nicolas Pépé, in writing, to the tune of €70m from Inter Milan.
The 23-year-old has decided not to make any decision on his future until after the Ligue 1 clash with Lyon on 5th May which could decide Lille’s final placing in this season’s table: either 2nd or 3rd.
His eventual decision will be made on the technical and tactical project on offer by clubs, as well as whether or not they can offer Champions’ League football, which he dreams about. The former Angers man knows that he needs space to be able to showcase his immense pace and dribbling capabilities in his eventual future team. He would like to be in a team where he can build a relationship with the full-back behind him quickly who is attack-minded and offers overlapping runs.
Initially, his preference appears to be a move to La Liga, where the quality of attacking play at the highest level is undoubted. But a potential move to PSG, where the attacking trio of Neymar, Mbappé & Pépé would likely be unrivalled in Europe, is also an attractive proposition. The question that hangs over the Ligue 1 champions is whether or not they could afford such a deal whilst abiding by FFP.
Bayern Munich are yet to make an offer, despite having been rumoured to have done so. A few weeks ago, Lille manager Christophe Galtier announced that he saw the Bavarian giants as the ideal destination for Pépé from a tactical perspective.
Liverpool in the meantime continue to pay close attention to the situation and intend to position themselves in a few weeks time.
With 19 goals and 11 assists, Pépé is worth the trouble – Lille want to extract as much financial reward out of a sale for a player they paid €10m for and for an individual whose transfer fee they will owe 15% of to Angers.
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