Arsenal Hoping To Sell Two Stars As Pepe Deal Edges Closer

Arsenal are looking offload defenders Shkodran Mustafi and Laurent Koscielny while a Nicolas Pepe’s deal move from Lille is almost done.

The Gunners agreed a deal with Les Douges last weekend and are on course to complete a club-record deal worth 72m pounds for the Ivory Coast international.

The 24-year-old is currently at Arsenal’s training ground undergoing a medical and is expected to be a Gunner in the next 24 hours.

The Gunners beat a host of clubs including European champions, Liverpool and Italian side, Napoli for the services of Pepe.

Pepe becomes Arsenal’s fourth signing of the summer after signing Dani Ceballos (Real Madrid), William Saliba (Saint Etienne) and Gabriel Martinelli (Sao Paulo).

Meanwhile, the Gunners are looking to sell two of their defenders this summer. According to BBC’s David Ornstein, Arsenal are in talks to sell Laurent Koscielny and Shkodran Mustafi who are attracting interest from French Ligue 1 sides.

Koscielny’s future has been in doubt since he refused to travel with the club for their American preseason tour, while the club are willing to sell or loan out Mustafi, although the world cup winner wants to stay and fights for his place.

According to reports, the gunners have already begun talks with Rennes over the potential sale of Koscielny, while Monaco have also expressed interest in Mustafi.  If the duo leaves this summer, Arsenal will intensify their efforts to sign Celtic defender Kieran Tierney.