It’s a story as old as time – or at least as old as Nicolas Pepe’s underwhelming stint in London – Arsenal are bad at selling and Turkish clubs never want to pay.

• Nicolas Pepe’s £4m transfer fee is too high for Besiktas. 
• Conflicting reports between The Sun and L’Equipe about Pepe’s willingness and readiness to move to Besiktas.
• Time is ticking for Pepe, with the Turkish transfer window closing soon and the African Cup of Nations approaching. 

The never-ending saga

Nicolas Pepe finds himself in Arsenal limbo.

The club is practically begging clubs to take him, yet the £4m fee appears to be a stumbling block for Besiktas.

It’s like watching a never-ending episode of a soap opera, only less entertaining and more cringe-inducing.

Conflicting reports

According to The Sun, Pepe is playing hard to get.

A demure coquette, he’s apparently reluctant to leave Arsenal’s embrace without a sizable payoff.

Contrast this with L’Equipe, who write that Pepe already passed his medical on Monday.

They claim that the player has agreed terms and it is the clubs who are holding things up as they fight over a paltry fee for the player Arsenal paid £72m for.

The clock is ticking

Time is running out for Pepe to make a move, with the Turkish transfer window closing on September 15.

Meanwhile, he could pocket around £6.5m if he sticks around at the Emirates for the remaining 10 months of his contract.

All this with the background of his lack of action possibly spelling doom for his international career, especially with the African Cup of Nations looming on the horizon.

Arteta’s stance

Mikel Arteta has clearly grown tired of the Pepe experiment.

He’s already ‘ordered’ the Ivorian to train alone and even re-assigned his squad number with Leandro Trossard wearing Pepe’s 19 since he arrived in January.

The message couldn’t be clearer: Pepe’s career at Arsenal is done.

The only question remaining now is ‘when will it actually end?’