Arsenal submit £45m for Pepe but…

North London side Arsenal have submitted a £45 million bid for French Ligue 1 Lille attacker, Nicolas Pepe, according to Gazzetta Dello Sports journalist Nicolo Schira but the bid was rejected.

The Gunners have been linked with the Ivory Coast international for a number of months with manager Unai Emery believed to be desperate to land him ahead of other suitors.

Nicolas Pepe is tipped to add more quality to the Arsenal attack as well as bring the competition that will help to awaken Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the attack knowing that the pair have been inconsistent in their goal-scoring ability in the last two games.

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However, the Italian reporter took to his Twitter handle on Saturday to confirm that the North London side submitted £45 million for the 23-year-old ahead of a move in the coming winter transfer window.

He, therefore, claimed that the bid was rejected with the French Ligue 1 outfit insisting that the player deserves better as talks are still ongoing.

The journalist, therefore, added that should the Gunners miss out on the player, they will turn their attention to Italian Serie A outfit AS Roma star Cengiz Under as they are desperate to add more strength to the attack.