Fansided

5 possible landing spots for Nicolas Pepe this summer

By Kevin Parvizi

TOULOUSE, FRANCE - April 21: Nicolas Pepe #19 of Lille in action during the Toulouse V Lille, French Ligue 1 regular season match at the Stadium Municipal de Toulouse on April 21st 2019 in Toulouse, France (Photo by Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images)
TOULOUSE, FRANCE - April 21: Nicolas Pepe #19 of Lille in action during the Toulouse V Lille, French Ligue 1 regular season match at the Stadium Municipal de Toulouse on April 21st 2019 in Toulouse, France (Photo by Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images) /
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(Photo by David S. Bustamante/Soccrates/Getty Images)
(Photo by David S. Bustamante/Soccrates/Getty Images) /

Liverpool

Mohamed Salah has been loosely linked to Real Madrid this summer, but nobody expects one of the faces of the Champions League victors to actually leave the club this summer – or any time soon. Those rumors have certainly cooled off, too, after Real bought another one of the Premier League’s best players in left forward Eden Hazard.

So Liverpool don’t need a player like Nicolas Pepe with Sadio Mane and Salah more than capable of scoring 20 goals per season as two of the best in the world. In fact, their statistical brilliance is even more impressive than Pepe’s, given that they’ve been at the top of their games for longer and compete in a league that is viewed as the stronger league.

That said, Liverpool have huge ambitions as a club. Even though they’ve won the Champions League Final one year after falling short in the final game against Real, they were one point behind Manchester City and fell to Guardiola’s side in their pivotal second encounter (courtesy of a decisive goal from the aforementioned Sane).

In order to beat City in the grueling Premier League, Liverpool need to have the same embarrassment of attacking riches that City do. While Liverpool should primarily target attacking midfielders with more technical quality and better passing than their current crop of quality players, a player of Pepe’s caliber wouldn’t hurt.

Of course, because Liverpool don’t need Pepe as much as clubs like Bayern or rivals Manchester United, they probably aren’t prepared to pay as much for the in-demand Lille star. However, the rumors linking Liverpool to Pepe haven’t slowed, making them an intriguing landing spot for one of the world’s fastest rising stars.

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