Unai Emery confirms interest in Nicolas Pepe

Arsenal look set to smash their transfer record and sign Lille attacker Nicolas Pepe for a fee of £72 million this summer. After the 2-1 defeat in a pre-season friendly to Lyon, manager Unai Emery confirmed that the Gunners were almost ready to sign the talented youngster.

Pepe has proved himself as one of the best young players in Europe in recent seasons, finishing last season as second top scorer in Ligue 1 and bagging dozens of assists to go with his impressive goalscoring record.

After the friendly Emery confirmed Arsenal's move to sign Pepe: “We are working inside of the club, and also thinking how we can improve. They have different players on the table with the possibility we can achieve their signature. And Pepe is a very good player, and also we are thinking only of players who can really, really improve this squad, and also give us some different conditions for improvement.

“We have been working for the last few weeks and before the season starts, the first match in Newcastle, to get the best team with the best players in our squad.”