Arsenal fans 'excited' about Nicolas Pepe, says NBA star Luol Deng
Friday 30 August 2019 12:14, UK
British NBA star and Arsenal fan Luol Deng is "excited" by summer signing Nicolas Pepe and hopes the Gunners achieve a top-four finish in the Premier League.
Speaking at the annual Deng Top 50 Basketball Camp, former Chicago Bulls forward Deng - currently a free agent after completing a one-year deal with the Minnesota Timberwolves - said: "Everyone is excited about Pepe. Obviously being young and the fact that we paid so much money for him.
"It was good to see him play a full 90 minutes against Liverpool but I really want to see him play more and see what he can do."
Long-time Gunners fan Deng, who was born in what is now South Sudan before settling in the United Kingdom and becoming a British citizen in 2006, says Arsenal have many reasons to be hopeful about the 2019-20 Premier League season.
"I'm excited about a lot of things," he said. "We've got a lot of new signings so I'm happy about that. I think at the end of the day we want to finish in the top four. We want to get back to the Champions League - that's why I can't jump the gun yet getting excited as I am.
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"It was a good test against Liverpool and we've got Tottenham this weekend. It's early but I just want to see a line-up that every match I can say 'OK, I know who's starting and who's not' because Man City are doing that and other teams are doing that.
"For Arsenal we've got to get our main XI first so at least the fans know this is our base, this is who we go with and then go from there."
Watch Arsenal take on Tottenham in the north London derby live on Sky Sports Premier League and Main Event on Sunday from 4pm.
Luol Deng was speaking at the annual Deng Top 50 Basketball Camp, in collaboration with the Luol Deng Foundation, a non-profit organisation that uses basketball as a tool to give hope to those in Africa, the US and the UK. To find out more go to http://dengcamp.com/
