Arsenal manager Unai Emery says the club are targeting “very big, very expensive” deals in the transfer market.

The Gunners board are under pressure to deliver this summer after failure to qualify for the Champions League last season. Arsenal finished fifth in the Premier League and lost the Europa League final to Chelsea and Emery has only managed to sign Gabriel Martinelli so far this summer.

The north London club have been linked with Wilfried Zaha, Kieran Tierney, William Saliba and Dani Ceballos and Emery has reassured fans that his team are doing all they can to add some quality to their tanks.

He told Sky Sports: “Our target is to achieve three, four players to really improve our team and squad now.

“We are being very demanding, and we are also first speaking about the possibility to sign very big players, very expensive. “The first player in our list is the first target and after, if we cannot have that then [we try to sign] the second but thinking every time that they are going to improve our team.

“We are having a lot of meetings with the club, with [technical director] Edu, also with Josh and Stan Kroenke in Denver. “We have a very clear idea: to sign the players who can help us with a good performance and in the positions we need.”

Arsenal are considered outsiders for the league title next season, while they are 2.10 to finish in the top four. The Gunners open their account for the season against Newcastle United and punters can back them to win the match at odds of 2.05.