Lille are set to slap in a bid for in-demand Angers forward Nicolas Pepe when the January transfer window swings open.
Pepe increasingly appears poised to be at the centre of a transfer scramble in the new year, as several sides look to tempt Angers to sell their highly rated forward.
The Ivorian has been linked with Championship side Newcastle United, along with Saint-Etienne and Monaco within Ligue 1 and it was recently claimed a bid was made by an unnamed French club for Pepe, though knocked back by Angers.
Now, according to French magazine Le 10 Sport, Lille are readying their own bid for Pepe, to be lodged in the new year.
Lille rate Pepe highly and are determined to pull out all the stops to win the race for his signature.
relatedNewsStory
Angers value Pepe at the €10m mark, meaning suitors will have to dig deep to make sure they snap up the Ivorian forward.
Pepe, who was born in France but was capped at international level by the Ivory Coast earlier this year.
The forward was snapped up by Angers from Poitiers in 2013.
