Manchester United never had any interest in signing Nicolas Pepe from Lille this summer, the BBC‘s Simon Stone has confirmed.
Lille’s president claimed that Napoli, Inter Milan and two unnamed clubs had all made offers of £73m (€80m) for Pepe – an amount considered enough by the French club to let him go.
Despite reports claiming that United were among the four candidates, another BBC journalist David Ornstein has confirmed that Arsenal had reached an agreement with Lille for Pepe.
Arsenal have reached an agreement with Lille to sign Ivory Coast winger Nicolas Pepe for ~€80m, paid by instalments to fit #AFC budget. 5yr deal, agent agreement still needed but set to be closed in next 24/48hrs. Napoli also have agreement with #LOSC but agent rejected proposal
— David Ornstein (@David_Ornstein) July 27, 2019
United, on the other hand, never expressed any interest in securing the 24-year-old’s signature this summer, contrary to many reports from both England and France.
Man Utd were never in for Pepe even though on here were willing it.
— Simon Stone (@sistoney67) July 27, 2019
In that case, who is United’s target at No.9, assuming they are wanting to replace Romelu Lukaku with somebody? Wassim Ben Yedder has been mentioned, but there is little traction surrounding that move.
There is a very real chance that United, preoccupied with selling Lukaku and signing Maguire, simply do not sign another striker, and opt to put faith in a Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial combo for the whole season.