Arsenal have made contact with Nicolas Pepe’s agent to let the player know they’re monitoring him this season, according to reports in France.

Le10Sport (via TeamTalk) report that Arsenal are planning a move for the winger in January or next summer. They’ve already spoken to Pepe’s agent to inform him of their interest, so it’s down to the player himself to impress them now.

Lille reportedly turned down a £31m for the player over the summer, which was likely partly because Pepe still has such a long contract remaining with his current club. He signed a new five-year deal in June 2017, so he’s still got the best part of four years left on it.

The Ivory Coast winger has made a strong start to the 2018/19 season already, with a goal and two assists in his first four matches. Playing as a right-winger, it’s not difficult to see why Arsenal would be interested.

Though the Gunners do have a few players who can play on the right, like Mesut Özil and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, they’re not really natural wingers. They don’t excel in making runs in behind and dribbling past players one-on-one, and there aren’t many that do in the Arsenal squad.

Perhaps Pepe could help change that, but we’ll have to wait until at least January to find out.