Napoli in pole position to sign Lille star Pepe

 

Lille president Gerard Lopez has revealed the club have accepted an offer from Napoli for star man Nicolas Pepe.

 

The Ivory Coast international has been heavily linked with a number of Europe’s top clubs this summer following his breathtaking performances last season.

 

Pepe was instrumental in Lille’s second place finish in Ligue 1 in 2018/19 and is now primed for a big money transfer this summer.

 

Manchester United and Bayern Munich have been credited with an interest in Pepe but the 24-year-old looks set to join Napoli.

 

“Napoli have satisfied our request of €80m (£71.6m). Now it will be up to the player to decide where to go, also on the basis of other proposals that his agents received from four clubs,” Lopez told Tuttosport, via Sky Sports.

 

“Pepe will return from his holidays on Monday and I think that he will make his mind up halfway through the week.

 

“We asked him to stay last year and promised him we would have let him go during this transfer window.”

 

Napoli in pole position to sign Lille star Pepe

 

 

It is understood Napoli’s offer is not the €80m in full but a lesser fee with Adam Ounas going in the opposite direction.

 

Pepe’s agent, Samir Khiat, visited Napoli’s training base on Thursday to thrash out personal terms but a deal is not done yet.

 

Pepe remarkably scored 22 goals and registered 11 assists in 38 league appearances for Lille last season and won the WhoScored Man of the Match award 13 times.

 

In fact, only Kylian Mbappe (40) played a direct hand in more league goals than Pepe (33) in Ligue 1 last term.