The eyewatering amount Nicolas Pepe cost Arsenal PER MINUTE

Arsenal’s former record signing Nicolas Pepe is on the verge of departing the club four years after joining the north London side.

The winger arrived from LOSC Lille in 2019 for a fee of £72m, smashing Arsenal’s transfer record at the time (which had previously been £42m when they signed Mesut Ozil from Real Madrid).

He enjoyed a good first season in north London, scoring 8 goals and grabbing 10 assists as he played a big part in Arsenal’s FA Cup success in Mikel Arteta’s first season.

The emergence of Bukayo Saka saw him drop down the pecking order ahead of the new season though, and he found himself often consigned to the substitutes bench, though he still chipped in with 10 goals across just 1600 Premier League minutes.

That number dropped even further the following season (to just 600 minutes in the top flight) and the Ivorian was deemed surplus to requirements following the arrival of Gabriel Jesus and Fabio Vieira, both of whom could provide cover for Saka.

It brought about a loan move back to Ligue 1, which signalled that his career in north London was coming to an end, and he now looks set to head to pastures new with reports that the Gunners will terminate his contract a year early to facilitate a move.

It will leave Pepe with 112 Arsenal appearances to his name, with each appearance costing the club an eyewatering £642,000, while every minute that he was on the pitch was worth over £10,000.

Meanwhile, he set the club back £2.6m for every goal he scored, though that drops to £1.5m for every one of his 48 goals or assists during his time at the Emirates Stadium.

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