Why New Arsenal Signing Missed Barcelona Friendly Revealed

Arsenal manager Unai Emery has revealed the reason behind the absence of new signing Nicolas Pepe for the club friendly clash with the Spanish champions Barcelona and the Gunners.

Pepe was a notable absentee as Arsenal and Barcelona battled each other for the right to win the annual Joan Gamper Trophy on Sunday night.

The Joan Gamper Trophy is normally held at the Nou Camp, the home of Spanish giants Barcelona.

After the game, Arsenal manager Unai Emery was asked about the absence of Nicolas Pepe.

According to the Spanish tactician, he wants to be patient with the Ivorian international and that he doesn’t want to rush the 24-year-old into action.

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Unai Emery is optimistic that Pepe will take his place in the Arsenal team for the Premier League opener at Newcastle United.

He revealed that Nicolas Pepe will train as usual on Monday.

Unai Emery saw Arsenal lose a first half advantage from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to lose 2-1 courtesy of two second half goals.

Ainslay Maitland-Niles scored a comical own goal to gift the Catalans an equaliser midway into the second half before substitute Luis Suarez capitalised on some slack defending from Arsenal to give Barcelona the win on the stroke of full-time.