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Nicolas Pepe: How Arsenal's record signing turned into a £72m nightmare

Nicolas Pepe is on his way out of Arsenal.

The club’s record signing, who cost £72m ($85m) when they bought him from Lille just three years ago, is closing in on a return to France after Arsenal agreed a loan deal with Nice for the winger.

Talks have been ongoing between the two clubs over the exact make-up of the deal, with Pepe left out of Mikel Arteta's squad for the 3-0 win at Bournemouth in the Premier League as negotiations continued.

And an agreement for a season-long loan, which does not include an option to buy, has now been reached for the 27-year-old.

So why are Arsenal happy to let a player leave who just three years ago they were willing to smash their transfer record for? Below, GOAL takes a look.

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