Every season there seems to be a player from Ligue 1 that just explodes in the division, and in doing so set themselves up for a season of madness and speculation.

In 2017 it was Kylian Mbappe, in 2018 it was Malcom, and this year that player is very much Lille winger Nicolas Pepe, who took France by storm in the previous season guiding Les Dogues to the Champions League for the first time since the Eden Hazard years with his 22 goals and 11 assists in the league and seeing his valuation on Transfermarkt jump from £9 million to £58.5 million in 12 months.

As you would expect after such an impressive season, Pepe has attracted a fair bit of interest from some of Europe’s elite from Bayern Munich to Manchester United via the Sun and of course, Liverpool, but now according to the latest revelations it appears that the latter are all but out of the race for the winger on their own terms.

According to the Liverpool Echo, Liverpool sporting director Michael Edwards has personally reached out to Lille manager Christophe Galtier in May to tell him that the Champions League winners are not interested in the French side’s prized asset, ending any hope of the Ivorian international joining the Merseyside club, and that could be the best thing to happen to the winger.

Having largely played as a right-winger last season, it makes sense as to why a move for Pepe would make no sense for Liverpool as they currently have Mohamed Salah amongst their ranks, who can make a case for being the most prolific wide-man in world football after picking up a second Premier League Golden Boot last season.

If Pepe was to join, there is no way the Ivorian is starting ahead of Salah in Jurgen Klopp’s starting XI in both the Premier League or Champions League, and although there is a possibility the Egyptian winger could get injured, his injury record via Transfermarkt so far at Liverpool has no far been near immaculate, missing just one game.

Pepe no doubt has a future at a big European club next season after the year he had, but Liverpool would have been a poor decision for the 24-year-old, and the club knows this.