Arsenal free to complete Atletico Madrid transfer - Not Partey

Atletico Madrid will let Thomas Lemar join Arsenal on transfer deadline day, according to The Telegraph.

Lemar has fallen out of favour at Atletico after struggling to fit into Diego Simeone’s system during his time in the Spanish capital.

Arsenal were linked with Lemar before the winger joined Atletico, and it appears as though they may finally get their man. The report suggest that Atletico would let their man go out on loan, and that another Premier League club has already registered their interest.

The Gunners have also been heavily linked with Atletico’s Thomas Partey this summer.

How Pepe can play key role at Arsenal

Nicholas Pepe is yet to establish himself in the Arsenal first team despite flash of brilliance since his £72million move last summer. And speaking to Sky Sports , Graeme Souness and Patrice Evra have had their say on how Pepe can become a key player at The Emirates.

"When I joined the Premier League, before I could become a beautiful player, you need to spend some time in the gym, being strong first,” said Evra.

"That’s what I want Pepe to do - he’s an amazing player who scored lots of goals in the French league and I have a lot of respect for the French league, but with the Premier League, you need to be strong before you start showing your football.

Fellow pundit Graeme Souness added: “I think there’s a real player in there. I just hope he can establish himself, and gets what our game is all about and the intensity of it.”

Mikel Arteta has had his say on transfer deadline day as the Gunners look ahead to completing some last-minute deals.

“Well, I am confident we know exactly what we want to do, that we are all trying our best to finalise the deals that we want,” he said. “Whether that is sending people on loan or bringing someone in, we have complete connection between myself, Edu, the board and the ownership. Let's see what happens in the next 36 hours.

“I cannot discuss the players that we want but we recognise certain positions that we believe we are short. First of all in numbers and then adding different qualities to compliment each other and this is what we are trying to do.

“I’m really happy with the players that I have and my job is to improve them. This is the job and focus on the players and staff that I have here and to make this place better.