NICE confirmed the season-long loan of Arsenal flop Nicolas Pepe in a bizarre unveiling tweet.
And the deal does NOT include an option for the French side to buy the winger next summer.
Pepe, 27, has struggled to live up to his £72million transfer fee since joining the Gunners from Lille in 2019.
And following the arrivals of attacking players Marquinhos and Fabio Vieira this summer, Mikel Arteta deemed the Ivorian surplus to requirements.
So the record-signing will now spend the 2022-23 campaign back in Ligue 1 trying to rediscover his best form.
Pepe banged in 22 goals in his final season with Lille but has managed just 16 in his 80 Premier League appearances for Arsenal.
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The announcement video from Nice – posted just before kick-off in their crunch Europa Conference League play-off – was truly strange.
It featured a comic-strip-style ‘WANTED’ video which showed the club’s Allianz Riviera stadium, fans and then “new player” Pepe in the red-and-black home shirt.
Nice captioned the post: “Before getting behind our Aiglons, a short manga?”
Pepe was presented at the stadium in front of the fans wearing his new No29 jersey and received a huge ovation from the Aiglons supporters.
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He becomes the latest big-name player to join Nice this summer.
Aaron Ramsey completed a free transfer following his release by Juventus and Kasper Schmeichel ended his 11-year stint as Leicester’s No1 goalkeeper for another shot at European football.
Both players, as well as defenders Jean-Clair Todibo and Dante, started against Maccabi Tel Aviv tonight.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
