Arsenal boss Unai Emery delivers bad news on Nicolas Pepe transfer pursuit

Unai Emery has played down Arsenal's transfer pursuit of Nicolas Pepe saying the forward is merely a player the club are "following" [Courtesy]

Unai Emery has played down Arsenal's transfer pursuit of Nicolas Pepe saying the forward is merely a player the club are "following."

The Gunners identified the Ivory Coast international as an alternative to Wilfried Zaha and agreed a £72million transfer fee with Lille for Pepe.

The transfer is yet to take place, and now Emery has poured cool water on it.

Speaking after Arsenal's friendly with French side Angers, which finished 1-1, Emery said: "[Pepe] played here in Angers a few years ago, and then in Lille. He has progressed as a player.

"We are speaking about a lot of players, we want to select on players who can really help us, give us big performances and improve our squad.

"We have different options. This one at the moment is not closed, but he is one we are following."

The Gunners manager added: "No deal is official now, and I will only speak in the next hours or days if it can be official for us.

"We are working on the possibilities to sign players. We signed [Dani] Ceballos, and we have a possibility with Pepe.

"We are looking for the possibility to improve, but only if we can take more steps in the squad.

"Our target is to sign another player if he can really, really improve us. Our target is continuing to sign another player if we can."