Arsenal have confirmed Nicolas Pepe has returned to France to join Nice on loan for the 2022/23 season.
The Ivory Coast international joined the Gunners in 2019 for a club record £72m from Lille but has never fully acclimatised to Premier League football. Attackers like Bukayo Saka, Emile Smith Rowe, Gabriel Martinelli and Martin Odegaard have impressed in recent years, often leaving Pepe short of regular football.
He did win the FA Cup, however, and helped Arsenal reach the semi finals of the Europa League in 2020/21, being named in the competition's squad of the season. In total, he scored 27 goals in 112 appearances for the club in all competitions.
Pepe will aim to get back to his best in Ligue 1 with Nice, who are looking to improve on last season's finish of fifth. They have made some interesting signings during the off-season, bringing in Aaron Ramsey, Alexis Beka Beka and Kasper Schmeichel to accompany first-team stars like Morgan Schneiderlin, Kasper Dolberg and Mario Lemina.
Nice have started the season in poor form, managing just two points from their opening three games and most recently lost at Clermont, having both Lemina and Jean-Clair Tobido sent off in a 1-0 defeat.
They will be looking to seal qualification for the Europa Conference League on Thursday night, when they play the second leg of their play-off with Maccabi Tel Aviv having lost the first fixture 1-0.
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Source : 90min