Nicolas Pepe is open to staying at Nice this summer (Getty)
Arsenal winger Nicolas Pepe is open to staying at Nice for another season, according to reports in France.
The 27-year-old became Arsenal’s club-record signing when he joined the Gunners in a £72 million deal from Lille in 2019.
Pepe scored 27 goals in 112 appearances in his three seasons at Arsenal but struggled to make an impact in his final campaign under Mikel Arteta.
The Ivory Coast international was allowed to leave Arsenal last summer as he joined Nice on loan for the full season.
Pepe impressed in the first half of the season, scoring six goals in 16 appearances but the winger has been sidelined for two months due to a knee injury.
Nicolas Pepe has scored six goals for Nice this season (AFP via Getty)
Nice do not have an option to buy Pepe at the end of the season and according to L’Equipe, the Ligue 1 side have not made a final decision as to whether they want to keep the winger for another year.
The report claims that Pepe is open to the idea of remaining at Nice but the club want to review his performances in the second half of the season.
Pepe will have just one year remaining on his contract with Arsenal this summer.
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Pepe made his return from injury earlier this week as he came on as a second-half substitute in the 3-1 win over FC Sheriff in the Europa Conference League.
‘The team was already doing well when he left,’ said Nice head coach Didier Digard.
‘Before his injury, he was performing very weel. It’s an advantage for us. We don’t see it like, ‘we find someone while it was going well, how are we going to do it?’. Not at all, he is an extra weapon.
‘He is capable of making a difference at any time, we saw that against Tiraspol. He is easy to eliminate his opponents one-on-one. I think he is feared by the opponents so he can free up space for us.’
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Arsenal’s record signing returned from injury this week.