Arsenal made ‘derisory’ Wilfried Zaha transfer bid to scare Nicolas Pepe into joining
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ARSENAL'S insufficient bid for Wilfried Zaha was simply a ploy to lure Nicolas Pepe into joining, it has been claimed.
A £72million bid was enough to convince Lille to sell the winger but only after the Gunners had made a number of offers for Crystal Palace star Zaha.
However their plan was clear all along, according to , who say Arsenal first contacted Pepe's camp back in February.
With that in mind, the much-criticised bids for Zaha were actually messages to the Ivorian winger that time was running out for him to accept a move to North London.
Arsenal's agreement with Lille sees them pay out the £72m fee over five seasons.
A similar structure was involved in their bid for Zaha - but only amounted to £40m.
Furthermore, as SunSport reported at the time, the Gunners cheekily demanded a discount on that amount if they paid off the instalments early.
That news broke in the first week of July while Pepe put pen to paper on August 1.
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Indeed, he was in talks with Napoli just days before that agreement, and his entourage even travelled to the Italian club's training camp to negotiate personal terms.
Since signing, Pepe has underwhelmed somewhat at Emirates Stadium.
In seven Premier League appearances, the 24-year-old has made one goal and scored from the spot - while Zaha also has just the lone assist in 2019/20.
Palace still had to fight off interest from Everton after Arsenal dropped away in the final days of the window.
