Unai Emery Hints That Laurent Koscielny's Future Will Impact Arsenal's Incoming Signings

Unai Emery had admitted that the imminent arrival of Nicolas Pepe is not likely to be the Gunners' last transfer of the summer, while also hinting that Laurent Koscielny's future could play an important part in potential incomings.

So far this summer Emery has brought in three players, with William Saliba, Dani Ceballos and Gabriel Martinelli all joining – although the former rejoined Saint-Etienne on loan for the upcoming campaign.

Nicolas Pepe's arrival is expected to be announced on Thursday, but one key issue of concern for Gunners fans is the lack of defensive reinforcements, an area that was made frighteningly obvious as Emery's side shipped 51 Premier League goals in 2018/19 for the second successive season.

Emery conceded after the Gunners' penalty win over Angers that the club are still keen on another addition, widely tipped to be Kieran Tierney, ahead of the 8th August deadline.

“We signed 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," the Spaniard said on the club's official website. “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.”

However, with a new centre-back one of the areas of concern for this Arsenal side, Emery hinted that whether they sign a new central defender may rest on the outcome of the Koscielny situation. The Frenchman refused to travel on the club's pre-season tour, with the captain trying to force a move away from north London in favour of finishing his career in France.

It seems as though Emery's stance has softened on the matter, perhaps suggesting a compromise has been met between player and club.

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“He's a very important player for us,” Emery added. “We are speaking with him and with the team, about my responsibilities, the club's responsibility and his responsibility. With respect it's better for us, it's better for the team, and it's changing our idea with the centre back, because if he is here with us this season, it's very different than if he isn’t with us.

"We are speaking about the centre backs, but we have a lot of centre backs, we have good centre backs, and if we can sign one more centre back, it is because he is clearly better than we have."