Unai Emery Confirms Arsenal Are Looking for a Winger Amid Ivan Perisic Rumours

Arsenal manager Unai Emery has confirmed the club are hoping to bring in a winger before the transfer window closes on Thursday amid rumours linking them with Inter Milan's Ivan Perisic.

Per Jacob Murtagh and Martyn Thomas of the Mirror, Emery said: "The club is working with the possibility with different players. I do not know the players, I cannot say exactly the players but they are players with the possibility to help us, who can play as winger, right or left."

Emery's comments follow recent reports they are attempting to recruit Inter wide-man Perisic, as relayed by BBC Sport's David Ornstein:

The Spaniard would not be drawn on Perisic specifically, though.

Asked if the Croat wants to join the Gunners, he said: "I think all the players that can come and help us are good."

With striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang often forced to play out on the flank, Arsenal aren't a team with an abundance of wide options outside of Alex Iwobi and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, and the latter has been out for a month through injury.

Perisic, who helped Croatia reach the FIFA World Cup final last summer, is a productive player in the final third:

With prolific goalscorers like Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette to work with, Perisic could be a useful addition at Arsenal in the second half of the campaign.

Emery added his hope that the Gunners might bring in more than one player when asked how many he'd like.

"Between zero and two," he said. "If they aren't coming to help us like we want, I prefer they don't come. Two because we are looking at two different players with the possibility to come."

However, when asked if he would be disappointed with no new additions, he said: "No, I know it is not easy."

The Gunners are fifth in the Premier League, three points behind fourth-place Chelsea and level with Manchester United, whom they were eight points ahead of when Jose Mourinho was relieved of his duties in December.

They face some stiff competition to finish in the top four, so a new arrival or two could give them the boost they need to do so.