Arsenal make first signing of the next transfer window!

By Sir Hardly Anyone

One of the things I have noticed is that the further north you get the slower the information travels.   Thus they are still dealing with the last transfer window in Birmingham, as the ReadWestBrom web site tells us “West Brom made a late bid to try to sign Portuguese winger Burma from Galatasaray, according to reports.”  That was seemingly in August.  I am told it is still May in Newcastle.

In closer times past…

Last week Arsenal were signing Icardi.  Now we are not because he has just signed a new deal with Inter.   My how fast these things change!  Given that Milan is south of here, I suspect the winter window is already open and a cold draft is blowing in. Anyway we are also told by the Metro that Tottenham tried to get him last summer – according to his wife.  “He was gone for days,” she said, sipping her pint in Guinness in the Duck and Missit.

Elsewhere having said that he needed much of the summer to contemplate joining Arsenal, Vardy then said it was easy for him to stay at Leicester because he didn’t think he would fit the Arsenal style of play.   Then we had a headline saying “Vardy reveals how close he came to joining Arsenal.”   Whatever next?

Mind you these are strange days because Talk Sprout has suggested that Barcelona are “unwilling to match Gunners’ asking price for in-demand Hector Bellerin”.  That’s a bit of a change of tune for the Sprout which normally only has two stories:

a) From S Robson (another habitue of the Duck and Missit) – everyone is injured

b) From Ima Turnip (who prefers the Toppled Bollard) – Arsenal will not be able to resist this amount of money

But no, what we now have is “Any decision from the Gunners to sell would reportedly have to involve a huge bid of over £40million – a figure Barca are unwilling to pay.”

Anyway, during the summer 22 of our squad of 25 were said be leaving, but didn’t, so the story of departures continues but we shouldn’t worry.  Here’s another

According to CalcioMercatoWeb, the Bianconeri (that’s either Bath City or Juventus, I can’t remember) are so keen on recruiting the Spanish international that they have already held talks over moving for the 31-year-old.  And the 31 year old is Santi Caz who recently said in an interview that he wanted to stay at Arsenal for as long as possible, if not longer.

And another one: Per Mertesacker has discussed the possibility of rejoining Werder Bremen, according to the German club’s captain.

Here’s another this one coming our way: Alban Lafont, a goalkeeper (not that we don’t have four of them available anyway).  He is 17 and “is considered one of the hottest prospects in French whatnot, and has already played for Toulouse.  He’s the youngest keeper to play in Ligue 1.  Oh yes and Watford want him too.  Mind you to lose one player would be bad enough but Toulouse a goalkeeper…

On the injury front things are looking quite good: Ozil wasn’t injured, Ramsey is recovering, etc etc which is why we now have the headline “5 Arsenal players the club cannot afford to have injured.”