10 January Transfers Everyone Wants To See: #1 Nicolas Pepe
No matter how good some players are, football players or otherwise – they kind of need a bigger turf or neighbourhood to show that they belong, to prove that they have the “it” factor. Such is the story of some of the most exciting professional footballers in the game today, they can only become as big as the club they play for and we have a few names that many would want to see move to other pastures. Some have been rumoured away from their clubs and some haven’t but sooner rather than later, transfers are inevitable. Here is the first one on our list.
Nicolas Pepe of the Ivory Coast in action during the International Friendly match between the Netherlands and Ivory Coast held at De Kuip or Stadion Feijenoord on June 4, 2017 in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
(June 3, 2017 - Source: Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images Europe)
One Ivorian, by the name Nicolas Pepe recently won hearts in the French Ligue 1 and could be slowly owning them as well. The 23-year-old Lille forward got global acclamation after winning the September French Ligue 1 player of the month ahead of the likes of Kylian Mbappe and Neymar. Just like the above, Pepe is usually deployed as a winger and more often than not cuts inside to grab some precious goals. He is currently French Ligue 1 and Lille’s top scorer so far in the season with 12 goals and 5 assists to his name in only 18 matches and can bang all sorts of goals. From the penalty spot, outside the box, long range shorts you name it. Pepe’s emergence has seen Lille gunning for an unlikely Champions League group stage spot as they sit second on the league standings, a few points off the runaway leaders in PSG. He has become becoming “mister reliable”, with his latest showing coming over the weekend after scoring Lille’s winner against Nimes that moved them to up to second on the standings. His combination with other players of African descent such as Jonathan Bamba, has made the young Lille team a rightfully dreaded opponent.
With Arsenal and a host of other top European clubs particularly in the premier league rumoured to be interested in his services, he is becoming increasingly harder to keep at Lille.
Let’s continue the conversation. Where would you want to see the Ivorian play?