The 29-year-old spent the previous campaign on loan with Nice where his playing time was limited due to injuries.

He is now free to pursue a fresh challenge and according to Hawkins, the Ivorian could be on his way to Saudi soon.

Pepe was recently on the radar of Besiktas, but they were unable to convince the Gunners to terminate his current contract.

The decision has proved a wise one, considering they could now receive a handy fee from his move to the Middle East.

Apart from Pepe, the Gunners are also braced for the departures of Rob Holding , Cedric Soares and Nuno Tavares .

Holding is on the radar of Besiktas while Tavares has been linked with Aston Villa . Both could leave in the coming days.

Cedric has no proposals on the table at the moment, but it has been reported that he is attracting interest from Portugal.

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