SAMIR KHIAT and Aboubakar Traoré, Nicolas Pepe’s agents, are two very busy men right now. Their mobile phones have not stopped ringing pretty much all season long, but the calls have intensified in the last few months.
The Lille and Ivory Coast winger is one of the hottest prospects in world football right now. At 24 years of age, he has just accomplished a wonderful season in Ligue 1 (22 goals and 11 assists) and, as promised by the Lille owner Gérard Lopez, he can leave the club that he took to a wonderful second place in the table this season, qualifying for the Champions League.
From the Lille point of view, the situation is pretty clear: Nicolas Pepe has outgrown their club. He has become too good and it is time to cash in on a player they bought two summers ago for 10 million euros. The price now? 80! In the space of two years, his value has been multiplied by eight! Lille could probably get even more if they let a bidding war commence between some big European powerhouses. But they won’t play that game. Whoever offers 80m can have him.
Liverpool target, Nicolas Pepe. pic.twitter.com/VNSpcMph9P
— – (@lfcrealtalk) June 8, 2019
Once the season was over, his thoughts were just on going on holiday. Pepe knew how important and busy the summer was going to be. Between the transfers talks, all the rumours, the fake news, the actual right ones, plus the Africa Cup of Nations with Ivory Coast, which starts on June 24 with a game against South Africa. So he took some well-deserved time off Aad tried to not think too much about the summer ahead. In the meantime, his agents’ phones were still ringing like mad. Paris Saint-Germain, Liverpool, Inter Milan, Tottenham, Juventus, Manchester United, Bayern Munich all rang. Some were more serious than others. Some, like Inter, offered a deal straight away. Others like Paris are trying to sell their projects, or realised they could not compete financially.
The most important thing for Nicolas Pepe is to go where he can continue his progression and play. He doesn’t ask to feature in every single minute of every single match next season, but he doesn’t want to go to a club where he will hardly play and sit on the bench. We have seen it with young, talented players like him before. They join a club too big for them and get lost. Pepe believes he can succeed anywhere if he is given a fair chance but he also acknowledges that it is harder to become a starter if you have Sadio Mané, Roberto Firmino and Mo Salah ahead of you than if you have Ivan Perisic, Mauro Icardi and Antonio Candreva, no offence to the Milanese trio.
The other things that matter to “Team Pepe” is to not make any rushed decisions. As much as they would ideally want the future of the player sorted as soon as possible, ideally before the start of the ACN, there is no need to panic if nothing is done or agreed by then either. Pepe has already spoken to some managers interested in his services. It is part of the game. There is a big battle ahead for the clubs who want him. Right now, he has still not made his mind up completely. He has preferences. Some clubs really attract him. But he has not publicly ready to announce anything. He doesn’t need to.
Clubs and fans will have to wait for him to decide where he will go. To be chased by so many top clubs is pretty spectacular. He totally deserves it though. He has worked really hard to get here. He always believed in himself, even when Angers were sending him on loan in the French third division three seasons ago. In the space of three years, then, he will go from Orleans and playing in front of a couple of thousand fans in France’s third tier to Anfield, San Siro or Old Trafford in a top league and under the lights in the Champions League or the Europa League.
When he was growing up in Paris, this is what he was dreaming of. The dream is about to become reality.
