It has been a summer of hectic speculation over Arsenal's situation out wide.
Following a January transfer window that saw Ivan Perisic and Yannick Carrasco linked with the Gunners, wide players have dominated the rumours around the club.
Everton Soares, Malcom, Wilfried Zaha and now Nicolas Pepe have all been named as potential solutions, following interest in Bournemouth's Ryan Fraser.
The Scot was on the club's radar but has fallen behind other targets as the recruitment team at the Emirates Stadium have set about trying to find Unai Emery a new match-winner to re-arm his flanks.
Despite being lumped in with these other wingers, the 25-year-old always offered something a bit different to the rest.
Last season, he created 14 assists in the Premier League, only one behind the division's top creator Eden Hazard. Rather than sprinting for the byline to get a cross in or dance through a crowd of defenders, Fraser often did his best work drifting inside to show the quality of his passing.
Unfortunately for the Scot, that is exactly the sort of niche Dani Ceballos is set to fill for the Gunners, having signed for Arsenal on loan from Real Madrid for the season.
A deal to bring in Pepe from Lille would remove the need to sign a wide player, while the Spanish midfielder's arrival takes care of the other qualities Fraser could have provided, and that's before considering how Alex Iwobi and Henrikh Mkhitaryan already fit a similar mould.
Mesut Ozil too will be looking to make a great impact this season as a creator behind the forwards having enjoyed a promising summer on tour in the USA with the Gunners.
While it seems the need to sign a player like Fraser is fading for Arsenal, that doesn't mean that the idea behind initial interest was wrong-headed.
It may be that the north Londoners have simply found options they feel are better solutions to the problems the Scottish international could have been signed to help address.
