Mikel Arteta has no plans to add Arsenal loanee to his squad next season - Reports

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta is reportedly not in favor of having winger Nicolas Pepe back in his squad for the next season. The attacker spent the 2022/23 season on loan at Ligue 1 club OGC Nice.

According to The Telegraph, Mikel Arteta doesn't plan to reintegrate Nicolas Pepe into his squad once he returns to the club following his loan spell. The club are said to be looking for potential suitors with a year still remaining on the Frenchman's contract at the Emirates.

Pepe joined Arsenal as a club-record signing for £72 million in the 2019 summer transfer window but failed to have a decisive impact. In 112 matches for the club, he scored 27 and assisted 21 goals before being sent out on loan to Nice in the 2022 summer window.

He had a decent spell at the Ligue 1 club, scoring eight times in 28 matches and producing one assist. Now with his temporary stint set to end later this month, he will return to the Emirates. But he may not have a future at the club anymore.

"I don’t know what Arsenal want" - Nicolas Pepe on his future at the Emirates

Nicolas Pepe opened up on his loan move to Nice in March this year, saying it was the coach's decision to send him out temporarily. He thought he could be useful to the club, but wasn't able to break into Mikel Arteta's starting squad.

He conceded that he didn't know what the club wanted with respect to his future. Pepe said (via Get Football News France):

“I don’t know what Arsenal want. I still have a lot of friends there. I could have been important for the club, but those are the coach’s choices.”

Pepe's comments were in contradiction to Arteta's, who had claimed in August last year that it was the Frenchman's decision to leave on loan. But now it seems that the winger's time at Arsenal is over and he will have to look elsewhere.