Nicolas Pepe to leave Lille

by Staff Reporter

Monday May 20, 2019. 13:00

Lille head coach Christophe Galtier has revealed that star forward Nicolas Pepe will leave the club at the end of the 2018/19 French Ligue 1 season.

The Ivory Coast international has scored 22 goals and assisted a further 11 in 37 league appearances this season, helping Lille to a second-placed finish behind Paris Saint-Germain.

Pepe, 23, scored a brace in a 5-0 thumping of Angers in what was the club's final home game of the season, and most likely his last match at Stade Pierre Mauroy before a move to one of Europe's top clubs.

In an interview with Canal+, Galtier said: "Nicolas Pepe will leave. Life's like that, football's like that today.

"He is a player of the highest level who will have a big decision to make on the choice of his next club.

"There will be a battle between the great European teams.

"I hope that he will take good amount of time to think about it, do his research."

Manchester United and Arsenal are among the club's tipped with his services while Bayern Munich and French rivals PSG have also reportedly expressed their interest in the winger.