Nicolas Pepe’s agent is slowing down the process of the winger moving to a new club this summer because of his commission demands.
Yesterday, we reported that there were apparently four clubs – including the Reds – who have a deal in place with Lille for Pepe, but it was anticipated that agent fees would be a big sticking point. Now more details have emerged on that.
Napoli are one of the four clubs with an agreement in place with Pepe’s current club as well, but according to Gianluca di Marzio, the deal has not been done yet because of agent issues – namely, that he wants to be paid €5 million for the deal to go through.
Pepe also wants a €5 million per year salary – not too bad in modern football terms – which Napoli are yet to put on the table.
Napoli offered Nicolas Pépé a €3.5 million salary plus €500K bonuses while his request is currently €5 million salary and a €5 million agents commission, according to @DiMarzio.
— Get Italian Football News (@_GIFN) July 25, 2019
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The Reds did spend a lot on agents fees last year – £17 million more than any other Premier League club at £43.7 million, according to the Guardian – but that probably just means the club will want to cut back this year to balance that out.
Last summer was always going to be a big summer for agents fees because a few players were signed for big money.
There have been bigger agents fees in recent times – Mino Raiola made £22.8 million from the deal that took Paul Pogba to Manchester United, for instance, according to the Telegraph – but the Reds don’t normally go out of their way to pay fees like that.
If Pepe was to sign for the Reds this summer, it would need to be for the right reasons – not because his agent would make a huge sum.