Ligue 1 superstar agrees to join Barcelona, Real Madrid superstar to join Chelsea in the coming days and more, Transfer Roundup 19 December 2018

By Shambhu Ajith

Modified Dec 19, 2018 13:57 GMT

Barcelona are not going to hold back in January

Arsenal lead the race to sign Lille winger Nicolas Pepe

Nicolas Pepe is one of Arsenal's top targets this winter

Nicolas Pepe has been one of the head-turners from Ligue 1 this term. The Ivory Coast international has been on fire for Lille and has played a pivotal part in their impressive campaign so far.

Arsenal are, as per Daily Star, leading the race to sign the winger who has already scored 12 goals and registered 6 assists so far in Ligue 1 this season. The report adds that Arsenal's London rivals Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur are also interested in securing the services of Pepe and hence the Gunners will have to act immediately.

The report adds that French publication L'Equipe has reported that Lille have changed their stance and are now open for talks regarding the 23-year-old.

About the author

Shambhu is a European and international football journalist at Sportskeeda who focuses on previews, listicles and news articles. An ardent Manchester United supporter since before his teenage years, he started following the Red Devils by age 10 watching MUTV on television. Shambhu is also a highly-revered rapper and a playback singer on Spotify, having a whopping 1 million monthly listeners.

For his articles, Shambhu believes in triple-checking every piece of information, relying on trusted websites like Transfermarkt and Opta, and staying away from speculative publications. He believes that his law degree helped him to be more articulate and meticulous with his content and one of his core strengths is seamlessly involving emotion in his write-ups owing to the love for the sport. For Sportskeeda, has done exclusive interviews with Spanish legends Gaizka Mendieta and Fernando Morientes so far, and his articles boast of a huge readership of close to 50 million.

Shambhu's favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and the Argentine attaining glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment. He believes only Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland could replicate Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo's rivalry in the years to come. His favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson due to the Scot's unmatched longevity at the top.

Know More

Edited by Arvind Sriram