Mikel Arteta set to terminate a NINTH big-name Arsenal player’s contract with latest unwanted star due £7.5m pay-off

ARSENAL could be forced to hand Nicolas Pepe a £7.5million pay-off just to get him out of the Emirates.

And that would make the club’s former £72million record signing the ninth big name player to have his contract terminated by Mikel Arteta.

Arsenal could terminate Nicolas Pepe’s contractGetty

Getty

Mikel Arteta has already released eight big name players as Gunners boss[/caption]

Pepe, 29, has been told he has no future at Arsenal after spending last season on loan at Nice.

He has played no part in the club’s pre-season preparations and doesn’t even have a squad number after his number 19 shirt was handed to Leandro Trossard in January.

Turkish title contenders Besiktas are hoping to take the Ivorian international winger off Arsenal’s hands but are not keen on paying a transfer fee.

But with a year still remaining on his £150,000-a-week contract, Pepe is reluctant to walk away without a hefty pay-off.

Arsenal had been hoping to sell Pepe for around £10million but have had no offers for the player who joined them from Lille in 2019 when Unai Emery was still manager.

And even though Arteta is looking for a winger to act as understudy to Bukayo Saka, he has made it clear to the club’s hierarchy that Pepe plays no part in his plans.

Since Arteta replaced Emery as manager in December 2019, Arsenal have already terminated the contracts of Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Willian, Sokratis, Shkodran Mustafi, Mesut Ozil, Sead Kolasinac, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Hector Bellerin.

The majority of those players received a hefty pay-off just to leave, with sporting director Edu claiming: “When a player is 26 or older, has a big salary and is not performing, he is killing you.

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“They don’t have a transfer value and sometimes it’s better to pay a player to leave than it is to keep them.”

Pepe has scored 27 goals in 112 games for Arsenal but almost half of those appearances have come from the subs’ bench and he has not started a Premier League game since October 2021.

His imminent departure is part of an Emirates clearout as Arteta looks to put the finishing touches to his squad ahead of Saturday’s opening fixture at home to Nottingham Forest.

Arsenal have already spent £205million this summer to recruit Declan Rice, Kai Havertz and Jurrien Timber and will complete the signing of Brentford keeper David Raya for £30million in the next few days.

But they have offset some of that outlay by selling Granit Xhaka, Pablo Mari and Auston Trusty while US keeper Matt Turner is joining Nottingham Forest for £7million plus a further £3million dependent on appearances and his new club avoiding relegation.

Striker Folarin Balogun is also poised to leave despite Arsenal rejecting a £25million bid from Monaco for the 22-year-old USA international.

Inter Milan have been trying to negotiate a deal for Balogun for the past week but have yet to agree a fee, with Arsenal still hoping to raise as much as £35million for the player.

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