Has Arsenal come to a dead stop in terms of transfers: indeed has everyone else?

Things got a trifle more exciting when Brazilian winger Kenedy decided to post silly pictures and comments from China.   As one who has spent several weeks in China what I find bizarre is that the club allowed this to happen.  When I was there just a few years back my touring party were told repeatedly, and exactly how to behave and what to expect in various places.  It was made clear that we should never mention Tiananmen Square and the protests therein, that when visiting the Terracotta Army we should not take pictures and that the no photograph signs meant exactly that.  That we could observe activities in the great gardens, but not talk while others focused on their activities, we should not make any sign that we thought the local folk music incomprehensible nor on our river trip laugh at the man standing in the water wearing a suit and bowler hat checking that we were all wearing life jackets.  And obey the local laws and customs we did.

All Chelsea had to do was remind their players morning, noon and night, and give each player a minder, and close down their social media accounts.  China has its own approach to life, one goes there as a guest – especially on a business trip (which in essence is what a football visit is).

Chelsea were humble in their response saying, “We offer this apology with utmost sincerity. We have listened carefully to the criticism and will use the lessons learnt over the last two days to improve our processes in future”.

But The Telegraph loved it speaking of a “growing backlash in China”  Someone at the FA woke up and The FA has also written to both Kenedy and the club for their observations.   There is talk that the government authorities ordered Chinese media to “withdraw all related stories about Chelsea from their dual homepages and news apps” and the People’s Daily said, “China does not welcome a player like this; nor does China welcome a team like this.  It is regrettable that he has said such nonsense. He has created an incident that has humiliated China, an incident that so many fans simply cannot tolerate.  Kenedy’s absurd comments are not only impolite, but also uneducated.”

However in my view the club must take the blame.  If you go to a society such as China, then you need to behave as required.  If you don’t feel you want to control the touring party, don’t go.

Elsewhere it is all fairly everyday.   “Insider reveals the details behind Arsenal’s bid to sign 21-year-old forward” shouts Sky Sports as their reporter “reveals Arsenal are still looking to reach an agreement with AS Monaco about Thomas Lemar’s transfer fee”.

The Mirror in desperation at the lack of stories tries to revive an old favourite – “Arsenal miss out…” with the implication that it is Arsenal’s fault.   This time Arsenal have missed out on Arda Turan.

It is left to the Guardian to bring a smile to Untold’s offices this morning, with the Fiver column calling West Ham United “The Taxpayers’ Club”.   Although without the apostrophe, as some Guardian scribblers are still not 100% au fait with the grammatical rules on the plural possessive.

Still, I wonder where they got that idea from.  The Taxpayers’ Club!   What a lark!