OPINION
Liverpool fans should continue to have hope after ESPN journalist Jonathan Johnson said that it “wouldn’t surprise” him to see Lille winger Nicolas Pepe move to the Premier League.
Speaking on Sky Sports’ Transfer Talk podcast, French football expert Johnson said that it a move away from Ligue 1 will almost certainly happen for the 24-year-old.
“There’s no chance that he will be staying at Lille,” the journalist said. “They know, the coach Christophe Galtier before the season had even finished was saying it.
“It’s 100 per cent, if not greater, that he will be leaving, he will be moving on. There will be movement on that front, it wouldn’t surprise me to see him go to the Premier League.”
This claim from Johnson will surely get lots of Liverpool fans excited. Pepe is a fantastic player who had a fantastic season in Ligue 1, and he has already been linked with a move to the Reds this summer [Le 10 Sport].
Pepe scored 22 goals and assisted 11 others in 38 league matches, which is a brilliant record. And the fact that he may indeed want a move to the Premier League is definitely interesting.
It looks – from Johnson’s comments – that Lille are consigned to defeat over keeping Pepe in France, and despite what it would cost, Liverpool should definitely pounce.
The fact that Pepe is only 24 means that if he did arrive at Anfield, he would have plenty of time to develop under Jurgen Klopp and he could become a key part of the side.
Klopp has admitted that Liverpool need to keep on spending to keep up with Manchester City at the top end of the Premier League, and so it would not be a problem for the Reds to go out and get Pepe.
From what it looks like, the Premier League could be an ideal destination, and you have to say that – at the current moment – Liverpool and Manchester City are the most attractive teams to join.
