In a summer when clubs and players have acted fairly appallingly to engineer transfers I find it rather heart-warming that we have a manager who not only doesn't engage in the same kind of tactics but who is brave enough to speak out against it.

I know that after three years without a trophy and almost over a week without making a signing himself Arsene has his critics amongst Arsenal fans but to man Arsenal fans should be right behind him when he says that big clubs need to act better. He says:

If you don't show respect to other clubs I think that football is moving in the wrong way. You cannot come out like Ramon Calderon has done at Real Madrid with Manchester United and tell them you cannot stop a player leaving.

You can destabilise any player in the world — that is irresponsible. Big clubs should set an example.

And it's not just Real Madrid, it's Barcelona that have done similar to Adebayor and Hleb while AC Milan used Vincenzo Morabito to mess with Adebayor's head. Now, I'm not foolish enough to think that Arsenal are whiter than white, but we do not engage in the same kind of media-led pursuits of players the way these clubs do.

The way Madrid have acted this summer over Ronaldo has been dreadful. It's been so bad that as an Arsenal fan I have sympathy for Man United. Of course the clubs like Arsenal and United aren't helped by the players and their agents who lose sight of the fact that they're already earning a fortune and everything they do is motivated entirely by greed. It's a sad situation really but unfortunately I don't see it changing any time soon. 

Wherever there is big money there are shysters and scum-sucking bottom-feeding cuntblisters like agents and an agent's job is to make his client money. It's not to say 'Well, you're actually earning good money here and for the sake of your football career I'd advise you to stay'. As long as agents are tolerated then things will never change. Ban all agents, that's what I say. If a player is too stupid to enter in wage negotiations, like every other person on the planet has to do themselves, then fuck them. 

One man who has certainly had his head turned by agents is Emmanuel Adebayor. The Guardian reports that in discussions yesterday he refused to commit to Arsenal, holding out for three times his current £35,000 a week salary. If that's really the case then fuck him. Absolutely fuck him. I'm tired of shit like this, just because you've scored a few goals one season does not mean you're a fucking superstar.

And to me it's obvious that Adebayor and his people have never been interested primarily in a wage rise at Arsenal. If he'd really wanted some more money they'd have gone and said 'Do you think that we could negotiate an improved contract for Adebayor based on his last season?' and there's every chance the club would have done that. When you walk in, just as the season is over, and blunderbuss a demand for £80,000+, knowing that the club has a wage structure, then it's just another way of making a transfer request. The worst thing is that no player will ever say they want to leave directly in case they lose their 'loyalty bonus' written into their contracts. Imagine. Loyalty bonus. It'd make you fucking cry.

So Adebayor's objective was never to get more money from Arsenal. It was to get a move to Barcelona or AC Milan. If Arsenal had capitulated and given him the cash then he'd have stayed, I think, because he probably likes it at Arsenal. He's a big personality, well liked by the other players and the staff, so either way is win-win for him. Now though, with interest from other clubs having cooled, perhaps the cast-iron guarantees his agent got from them not so cast-iron after all, he's stuck in a kind of limbo.

In one way I hope no move happens at all. It'd be sweet justice and hopefully it'd teach other players a valuable lesson. Watching Adebayor squirm as fans tell him what they think would be most enjoyable. On the other hand I'm loathe to keep someone who has acted in such a way and if the money came in and we had a decent replacement I'd flog him in a second. How he's fucked it up though. Well on his way to being a real fans favourite, still with work to do though, now he's just another cunt in a game full of them.

Bacary Sagna talks about his return and says his ankle is improving all the time. It's good to see him back as we really missed him at the tail-end of the last season.

The squad play a friendly against Hungarian side Szombathelyi this evening and the pre-season begins in earnest at the Austrian training camp. No doubt we'll get picture specials of them being put through their paces.

Other than that it's all quiet so I'll leave it there. More tomorrow. 

So pre-season kicked off with a 2-1 win over Barnet yesterday.

We were losing 1-0 at half-time then changed the entire team around and goals from Jay Simpson and Nacer Barazite secured the win. There really is nothing much to be read into a friendly at this stage but one or two of the younger players caught the eye apparently, Jack Wilshere in particular looking rather good.

Arsenalist has the highlights and the goals. And here's a post-match interview with the boss (thanks to Luther).

Afterwards Arsene Wenger said he expected Adebayor to return to the club on Monday for pre-season training saying, rather cryptically:

Adebayor is a player of Arsenal Football Club and I'm confident he will be here at the start of the season Adebayor is under contract, it’s a completely different position to Hleb.

Wasn't Hleb under contract too? Or is the situation completely different because nobody's actually made a bid for Adebayor. Strange all the same and I think Arsene's little smile as he spoke about Adebayor returning/staying speaks volumes. There was some reassurance though for fans who want signings. He said there'd 'certainly' be at least one signing, maybe two. You can even hear him say it on the BBC here.

I think there's still some wheeling and dealing to be done this summer. If Adebayor stays then I can't see us signing a striker but will Adebayor want to stay after what he's said and knowing he's hardly a fans favourite anymore? Songs were sung about him at Barnet yesterday and he's got a lot to do to win people around again if he does stay. When he does return he needs to be on his best behaviour too, if there's the slightest bit of agitation or bullshit to disrupt pre-season then we should come down on him like a ton of bricks.

The Times suggests he could be on his way to Milan if Milan sell Kaka to Chelsea but the Italians have said they're not willing to sell. If Chelsea were to make an official £80m bid then I think the situation would change rapidly. Who could turn down that sort of money? It's an obscene and disgusting amount.

The News of the World says Adebayor will tell the club he wants £100,000 a week. Apparently that's 'fair reward' for what he's done for Arsenal. It's so ludicrous and downright fucking stupid that it barely merits comment. What I would say is that if this is his agent's way of ensuring we're forced into selling him then he'd want to be very sure there's someone who can afford to buy him. If he wants £100,000 a week why shouldn't Arsenal ask for a transfer fee corresponding to that. He's the one making the valuation, isn't he? There are some reports in Barcelona this morning that they're still interested and Yaya Toure has been saying how Adebayor would add strength to their attack.

So there's still that uncertainty and honestly, if the chance came and the money was right I'd sell Adebayor in a flash. Some might see it as giving the player what he wants, but you don't need trouble-makers in your squad and I just get the feeling that he would be trouble if he stayed. Which is a real shame. The other concern I have is that this shit will keep going right up until August 31st and we'll be left to do a last-minute deal on deadline day just to get shot of the cunt.

As for our 'certain' signing will come in central midfield and who knows what else might happen?

The Sunday Mirror says both PSG and Barcelona want William Gallas. £5m for a 31 year old who really hasn't covered himself in glory since he arrived at Arsenal would be good business provided it was spent on a quality replacement.

The Observer talks to Theo Walcott. Leaving the dog whisperer aside he seems like a very level-headed and well grounded young man. He made good progress last season, it'd be great to see him do it again this time around.

Dennis Bergkamp has started his coaching career at Ajax. Imagine being a young player at Ajax and having Dennis as your coach. Amazing.

Right, that's about it. More tomorrow.

Morning morning. A very quick Saturday round-up for you.

Arsene Wenger has been talking about spending and money and all that. He says:

Of course I am in a position where I can spend the money. But every time we have done such a great job with the young players that you are concerned 'do we kill a young player or not by bringing another player in?' It is a very sensitive subject which is not specially linked with money.

I think, perhaps, it's only a sensitive subject for Arsene, it's certainly not for fans. If there's money to spend then he should spend it. His job, at the end of the day, is to bring success to Arsenal, not to develop youngsters like some kind of football creche. If a player is good enough he'll make the grade, irrespective of who's in his way.

The bottom line is that the squad is looking a bit shallow at the moment. In the last 6 months we have lost three quality central-midfielders and that's an issue that needs to be addressed with the cheque book. And by that I mean a grown-up replacement, not some 17 year old who may have all the potential in the world but at this moment in time is not the solution. Maybe another 17 year old is but I doubt it.

Anyway, there's something to be said for giving young players time on the pitch with experienced players. Of course they learn lots from just playing but if they have experienced pros telling them how they can improve and helping them along then their development is far from stunted. I like the idea of young players but at the same time the boss can't complain we lacked a bit of experience last season then make the squad even younger and more raw.

That said I'm pretty sure Arsene is aware of the situation and I fully expect him to buy some players before the start of the new season. Not doing so would be madness, in my opinion, and I don't think the boss is mad. Not that mad, anyway.

Gael Clichy compares Robin van Persie to Cristiano Ronaldo, in that he can score a goal out of nothing. Sadly, talented as he is, van Persie can't score a goal from the treatment table and he's got to have a much more injury free campaign this time around. Otherwise you really have start considering the future of a player who you just can't count on. 

Robin's big pal, Tomas Rosicky, confirms he'll miss the start of the season but says he hopes to be back in September. Even more than van Persie I feel this season is make or break for Rosicky. I really like him as a player but the amount of time he's been out injured since he arrived at Arsenal really does beg some questions. 

Hmmm, it's all a bit glum for a Saturday, isn't it? Particularly when our first pre-season game is taking place in just a few hours. We play Barnet at Underhill and if you have Arsenal TV you can watch it. Sadly NTL here are a pack of cunthounds so we don't have Arsenal TV. Boooo.

It's good to have the football back though. Have fun if you're going, more tomorrow. 

Morning all,

we'll start with the Sun's story about how we are interested in Gareth Barry. They ran a story last week saying we might be trying to nick the Villa man from under the noses of Liverpool but it seemed more like the kind of story planted by Barry's people to get Liverpool to finalise the deal. However, the Sun quotes Martin O'Neill, who says:

Myself and Steve Walford both know Arsene Wenger’s assistant Pat Rice. He phoned Steve to ask how the Liverpool thing had gone and said that they might show an interest. At the end of the conversation Arsenal said ‘that’s fine’ and that they’ll let us know. That is exactly what happened

So it's hardly earth shattering. We rang Villa and said we 'might' show an interest. I don't know if he means we rang and let them know at the end but it is at least a tentative link to a midfield player. Depending entirely on the price this could be a decent move - Barry needs no time to adapt to English football, what with being English and all, but if Villa are holding out for £18m from Liverpool then that's probably put him out of our price range. The over-inflated prices of English players never ceases to amaze me though - £17m for David Bentley would be hilarious if it wasn't so depressingly stupid.

Despite apparently playing down talks of a transfer Blackburn's Roque Santa Cruz has apparently told Paul Ince he wants to leave and Arsenal are one of the potential destinations. I suppose this all depends on what happens with Adebayor. A quick search of the Spanish press shows no indication that anything new is happening on that front. Nor Hleb. The papers usually have pictures of the players when they arrive at the airport but there's no sign of Dribbly McNoscore over there yet. Sport suggests that Arsene Wenger is determined not to make life easy for Barcelona with regards Adebayor but it's really just the same old crap recycled.

I wonder has Adebayor come back to London for pre-season training. There's no reason why he shouldn't have. Conspiracy theorists amongst you have emailed saying he's been taken out of promotional literature, the shop won't print his shirt unless you specifically ask for it etc. Me, I just want life to be as awkward as possible for him which is as much as he deserves for shooting his big, fat mouth off.

Meanwhile, the agent of Andrei Arshavin is getting itchy-feet. Having seen Zenit rubbish his claims that a £19m bid from an English club had been made he's doing his best to talk up Arsenal's interest, saying his client, who dreamt of Barcelona and only Barcelona, would really enjoy it at the Grove. It really does smack of desperation now and his dreams of a big pay day securing a great deal for his client are ebbing away.

Carlos Vela is looking forward to getting his Arsenal career going and playing with Cesc Fabregas. He says:

Spain was a just winner of Euro 2008 and Cesc Fabregas was sensational. For me he is my idol and it will be a great experience to work next to him in the squad. I hope he will help me in the first months. I want to be a warrior for The Gunners.

Awesome. I want him to be a warrior too, taking to the pitch in traditional Aztec garb and spearing opponents through the eye just because they look at him funny. Seriously though I'm really looking forward to seeing this young man in the red and little bit of white of Arsenal this season. It strikes me that we are building quite an array of talent for our wings/striking positions. Wenger has said that he sees Vela as a striker more than a winger so it'll be interesting to see where he gets played in pre-season. Will he do like Walcott and blood him on the flanks (sounds a bit pervy that, actually) or throw him in at the deep end, so to speak? We'll see. Only 4 days until the first pre-season game. Sweeeeet.

Danny Fiszman has defended the increase in price in season tickets. The cost of everything is going up these days so it's inevitable that football will follow. 

And that is about that. Till tomorrow, arsefans.

Not too long ago a prominent Arsenal blogger said about Hleb's move to Barcelona:

As for Barcelona there has hardly been a word about him in the Spanish press for ages and given the money Barcelona have already spent this summer I'd say there's no chance of him going there now.

Now it seems that he is on his way to Catalunya and that old cunt at Arseblog has egg all over his Paddy face this morning ... oh.

Strange one really, I didn't think there was any prospect of him going there. Sport runs with a headline saying HLEB: SIGNED while El Mundo has even put a 'Best of Hleb' YouTube video on their homepage. The Spanish press reckon we've been paid €15m which could possibly rise to €18m if Hleb scores more than 3 goals a season so €15m it is.

I can't say I'm too unhappy. Hleb has always seemed like a fairly nice bloke and he is undoubtedly one of the most skillful players I've seen at Arsenal. His close control and ability to make space was truly outstanding at times. Ultimately though, a grand total of 11 10 goals in 3 seasons for a player who played wide and as a support striker is simply not good enough. He didn't make too many assists either. When he was good he was very good but too often he was just mediocre. His unwillingness to shoot was massively frustrating too.

The hints from his agent this summer that he would find it hard to maintain a level of performance at Arsenal should he not be allowed leave were out of order in my opinion and the player himself said:

I feel I can't keep squeezing enough out of myself to satisfy a team like Arsenal. As a professional I honestly told Wenger that at our two recent meetings.

Too much like hard work, it seems. But if he thinks there's pressure at Arsenal wait until he gets to Barcelona with the press and the fans who, this season in particular, are going to be so demanding that even Prince would be shocked.

For those that suggest the squad is weakened by his departure I give you Samir Nasri, a player with more of an eye for goal and from wide positions goals can win you trophies, as we've seen with Ronaldo and from our own point of view with Pires and Overmars down the years. €15m represents good business from a financial point of view as well.

It does leave Adebayor's potential transfer to Spain a bit up in the air though. Which probably won't suit him but then maybe he's about to learn that sometimes it's best just to keep your mouth firmly shut so you don't make yourself look like a cunt and make life rather awkward for yourself.

Another player who could be on the way out is Gilberto. The press have picked up a story that started on an Arsenal blog about him moving to Panathanaikos so credit this time to Arsenal Analysis who have been running it for the last couple of days. It'd probably be a good move for Gilberto, he'd get a longer contract and more Brazilian weather. Still, I'll be sad to see him go, he's always been a top class professional and a good example to some of today's more impatient and live-in-the-moment players. You just hope that if he is leaving then we've got somebody lined up to replace him because central-midfield will start looking a bit light otherwise.

The Sun uses a Bacary Sagna interview from a French newspaper to spread more doom and gloom. Can't see too much wrong with what he says myself.

So things are beginning to start moving in terms of transfer activity. Let's be honest about this, there hasn't been much doing for any club as of yet this summer so I'm not at all worried about our perceived lack of business. A few deals will happen and the rolling stone will start gathering some moss and it'll all be grand.

Right then, 5 pairs of tickets for the London Masters were up for grabs and the question was 'Under Arsene Wenger's reign only two players have scored on their league debuts. Who are they?'

The key word in the question there was 'league'. The vast majority of entrants got Freddie Ljungberg v Man United correct but a lot of people then thought Reyes v Chelsea or Gilberto v Liverpool in the Charity Shield was the right answer. They were wrong. The answer was Adebayor v Birmingham in Feb 2006. So there you go. The Random Number Generator did its thing and the winners of the tickets are:

Dan Merryweather, Mark Maynard, Richard Cain, Alex Williams and John O'Brien.

Well done to you, I'll be in touch this morning to get details from you and don't forget to check out the Masters football website for more information about the tournament - it could be your last chance to see a soon to retire Ray Parlour in an Arsenal shirt.

That'll be that then. More, including an Arsecast, tomorrow.

Morning all from summery Dublin. By that I mean it's a typical Dublin summers day, damp and grey.

Some rather strange quotes from Arsene Wenger have emerged this morning. In a News of the World article linking us with an £18m move for Klaas Jan Huntelaar, the boss is reported to have said:

The strategy of the club is to sell every year and to buy less expensive players. We manage at Arsenal to maintain all our football ambitions — national and European —while having to free up - for 17 more years - an annual surplus of £24m to pay for our stadium. The club’s strategy is to favour the policy of youngsters ahead of stars and to count on the collective quality of our game.

Now, bar the first line of that it makes sense. Yes, we have a debt which we are managing well. The club's policy for the last few seasons has been to develop youth. It's something Arsene admitted a long time ago - that with the new stadium he felt he would have to take a different approach. There was no Chelsea on the scene at that time though, inflating the transfer market, and throwing around money like someone had just landed on their purple with 4 houses and a hotel in Monopoly. So he chose very deliberately to build his squad in a different way.

However, I am very, very dubious about the first line where he says the strategy of the club is to sell each summer and buy less expensive players. To make something like that public is almost suicidal as other clubs would come after our players and our negotiating position would be seriously weakened because of this admission. I don't think Arsene Wenger would say something like that. I really don't.

It's interesting that the quotes don't come from any particular interview, or 'Wenger said at a meeting on Tuesday'. To have said something like this would be the football equivalent of Gerald Ratner. Ratner was the Chairman of large chain of jewellery stores who famously admitted most of their merchandise was 'crap', comments which very nearly destroyed the company. So I'm a little bit doubtful that Arsene said that. A by a little bit, I mean a lot. We know that Wenger is a shrewd negotiator, we've seen him do fantastic deals in the past so for him to instantly weaken his hand in any transfer move just doesn't make any sense whatsoever to me.

So before you feel like the world is caving in this morning, which is quite clearly isn't, try and imagine Arsene saying that. I just can't. Especially as we're in negotiations with another club for at least one of our first team. Who would it suit for a quote like that to emerge? Not Arsenal, that's for sure. It's definitely stinks.

As for Huntelaar, if Adebayor goes then he's one of the leading candidates, but you just wonder if he'd be another Kezman if he came the Premier League.

The Telegraph says we're in pole position to sign Andrei Arshavin after Chelsea pulled out of the race. They say the player wants to come to London so his children can learn English but Chelsea, having signed Deco, don't need him. The reported £20m price tag would be an issue though. He's a good player but he's not worth anything close to £20m. His agent says:

Arshavin's future may be dependent on conversations about Hleb, Adebayor, Cristiano Ronaldo and others.

So there's a bit of a merry-go-round going ...erm... round here. The Spanish press are reporting those quotes as well this morning. Beyond that there's nothing new to report from those bastions of truth and diligent reporting.

And that's really about it. Watch the Wenger quotes explode over the papers and blogs this morning but again I'm really doubtful he said that.

Have a good Sunday folks. 

A quick Saturday round-up for you.

We'll start with Obafemi Martins who says he'd 'probably' like to play for Arsenal. The Newcastle striker has been linked with a move to us should Adebayor leave and he says:

Is Arsenal a good club? Yes. Would I love to play there? Probably, if Newcastle are ready to listen to them. But if Newcastle says no then it’ll be no.

Probably? Probably? Pfff, get to fuck. Meanwhile, Irish centre-half Arseblogger, many years younger than Martins, says he'd 'definitely' like to play for Arsenal, saying:

Is Arsenal a good club? Yes. Would I love to play there? Definitely, if my astro team are ready to listen to them. But if they say no then it'll be murder for them. Now that Arsenal are reversing their policy of signing kids and instead signing OAPs I see this as a great opportunity.

Martins? Do me a fucking favour. I bet we'll sign the old cunt now. There's nothing new about Adebayor, the Spanish press are having an 'according to the British press' day and just repeating all the crap that was in the papers yesterday.

Reports in Italy link Gilberto with a move to Roma. I hope we don't let him go but at least we'd have that Bischoff fella waiting in the wings if he does leave. God, we can't even sign a bloke who doesn't get a game for Werder Bremen.

Other than that it's deadly quiet this Saturday. Which can only mean one thing. And that thing is that there's fuck all going on.

With that in mind I think I'll have some coffee, some breakfast and see if I can't make something happen myself. Maybe I should get my agent to link me with a move to Arsenal. Firstly, I need an agent. Does anyone wanna be my agent? Although would it be cool to be a footballer who hated agents and then you could meet with them and lure them into dark alleys and kill them and people would be all like 'Man, who's killing all these football agents?'.

Eventually you'd get caught because they'd find some agent DNA on the ball you were using in a cup final because some of an agent's blood splattered on to your forehead when you killed him just before the match but then everyone would be all like 'Ok, fair enough. It's not like you were killing real people anyway. And is there any chance you could ask the Goo Goo Dolls to represent you? I hate those cunts'.

Hero, that's what I'd be. Anyway, coffee. 

A few bits and pieces to keep us going this morning.

I suppose we'll start with the Amaury Bischoff thing. According the player he's going to join us to play in the reserves having failed to make a single start for Werder Bremen in his time at the German club. I think much of that was due to injury rather than ability.

Still, I can't help thinking this is a very odd signing if it happens. We've just bought Aaron Ramsey, Arsene spoke at the end of last season about Fran Merida and what high hopes he had for him, and we already have Cesc, Gilberto, Diaby, Denilson and Alex Song competing for central midfielder. When you read about highly rated Henri Lansbury being given a professional contract it does seem rather strange to bring in a player to 'get in the way', so to speak.

On the other hand he's free, he doesn't cost anything, there will be no charge for him, he comes gratis, we don't have to pay a transfer fee and we get him for nothing, so if he does turn out to be a decent player then all well and good. I'm still struggling to understand why we'd sign a reserve though. Oh well.

Interesting news this morning that AC Milan have apparently pulled out of the Adebayor 'race' and will instead focus their attention on Ronaldinho. Ronaldinho obviously plays for Barcelona and the Catalan club has spent big already this summer. They've brought in Caceres, Dani Alves, Gerard Pique, Keita from Sevilla and another young centre half called Henrique and the total cost of that is over €80m. They need to sell to be able to buy. If they sell Ronaldinho to AC Milan then they get some cash to add to the Deco and Zambrotta sales which will enable them to spend some more. And it's likely Adebayor will be subject to a bid at that stage.

Pascal Cygan says he's heard that Arsenal are after his Villarreal teammate Marcos Senna. The Cyganator was on his way out of the Spanish club until Barcelona bought Caceres and he'll now stay another year. The Senna thing? Who knows.

The Sun has a little report on Eduardo and his recovery. They've got some shots of him on the beach and some close-ups of his scarring but the main thing is when he's due back. They quote Eduardo, saying:

I am returning to Europe from Brazil at the beginning of August, perhaps even the end of July. Doctors tell me by then I will be fully recovered and able to play football again. I hope so too.

And that is truly excellent news. How amazing that despite his horrific injury he might be back playing before Rosicky.

Chairman PHW talks about Stan Kroenke's possible involvement with the club at board level. In a fairly obvious shot at Fat from Fat&Orange, he says:

He is quiet, not ostentatious in any way. He could be a very good ally and colleague. There is some logic in him getting close to us. He is a sensible man who is a sportsperson and has got some expertise in his business and that has helped him to develop a fanbase there.

Reading between the lines here I think what the Chairman is saying is that it's good that Kroenke doesn't smell like a bucket of goat corpses covered in cat shit, that's been left out in the summer sun, due to his intense corpulence and the fact he's a hideous, disgusting, fat cunt of a Man United fan. At least that's what I'm taking from it.

Which makes sense. Hopefully on the Arsecast this week I'll be chatting to the AST who went out to Colorado to meet Kroenke, so we can get some more info from them about the man and his intentions regarding Arsenal.

Finally, for those of you despairing that we haven't announced the signing of Samir Nazzzzzzzri yet, or generally in a tizzy about transfers, have a read of Goonerholic today. I'm trying to imagine what it would have been like if we'd had the internet back in those days. I think it would have snapped clean in half with the amount of shit people would have talked about that particular deal. 

And there you go. The sun in shining and it looks like we've got summer again. Hurrah!

Oh, wait. It was just a break in the clouds. Carry on.

It's July 1st. You know what that means. Oh yeah. That's right. You know it. Ah-ha.

Tomorrow is July 2nd.

Cesc Fabregas has dedicated Spain's win in Euro 2008 to Arsenal fans. Which is nice. I was delighted for him that Spain won but really it doesn't mean anything to me. On a personal level it might make up for the disappointment in Paris but as happy as I was for him it doesn't make up for it to me.

However, that he had the consideration and the understanding to dedicate to Arsenal fans is really something. He knows how frustrating last season was for the fans and that is another sign of the maturity of this young man. Not for him 'demands' or agents telling the world he can't live in London because there's too many people or something. It shows he's got real intelligence and to me it's another little tick on the 'Make him captain' sheet. He wants to follow up his success with his country with success at Arsenal though, saying:

Next year I want to win trophies with Arsenal, this is my target. I finally made something at a young age, I never expected it to be with Spain. Now I want to do it with Arsenal.

And I really want him to do it with Arsenal too. Like lots. More than Scooby-doo likes Scooby snacks. And I want Cesc (MHC) to lift the trophies that we win.

Arsene Wenger has challenged the squad to show that they're winners next season. He says:

When things go against you of course it is very frustrating. You have to stay motivated though and what drives me on is my love for football, and also what drives me on is to try and come back and win. When you are a winner you come back. You come back and say, let's show that we can win it.

Of course some of our players won't be coming back. Or at least don't want to come back, and based on what the boss is saying there shouldn't that tell him everything he needs to know about their mentality? If you're 24 years of age and more concerned about your retirement nest-egg than winning trophies then you're not the kind of player we want at Arsenal.  

Some rather spurious reports this morning link us with a move for Villarreal's Marcos Senna. He was very impressive during Euro 2008, I have to say, but I'm not sure why Arsene would sign him while we still have Gilberto. They both play more or less the same role, there's not much in terms of quality between them and they're both the same age. Chances of this one happening are very slim, I'd say. 

Arsene Wenger casts doubt on the fitness of Andrei Arshavin. There were some reports that Hiddink wasn't going to take him to Switzerland/Austria at all due to concerns about his fitness and during the semi-final against Spain he looked absolutely spent. Maybe an off day, maybe a sign of an underlying problem. Who knows? 

Not much from Spain on the Adebayor saga today. As you might imagine the papers are still going on about the win against Germany. Expect normal service to resume shortly though. 

That's about that. Have yourselves a fine Tuesday.

So far I have to say I've enjoyed Euro 2008. We've seen some good football and some exciting matches.

Last night's 'epic' between Spain and Italy wasn't one of them though. Italy were dour, negative and defensive. Spain lacked the craft to open them up. They were pedestrian in midfield until Aragones brought on Fabregas for Xavi after about an hour.

The young Arsenal man made a real difference. Spain still failed to break down the stubborn Italians but he tried to make the openings, always looked for the ball and frankly showed the old coach that he should have started the game. And so it came to penalties. Spain scored through Villa, Cazorla and Senna while Casillas saved from de Rossi. Up stepped Dani Guiza, pichichi last season in La Liga, and took a rotten penalty which Buffon saved. Cassilas then saved again from di Natale and the kick to win the game fell to Cesc.

Talk about pressure. Three times on June 22nd Spain had lost a penalty shoot-out in a major tournament but there was no Riquelme moment, no Waddling, and he stuck it away to send Spain through to the semi-finals where they'll meet Russia. No less than they deserved, you have to say, and I was delighted for Cesc. He showed real courage and composure to score under real pressure and it looks like he's come of age on the international stage now as well. He's got to start the semi-final and he remains the last Arsenal interest in the tournament (although Jens is still there, kinda).

Spain v Russia looks set to be a cracker though. Two teams that will attack and try to win, unlike the Italian who were doing their best not to lose first and foremost. In the Eurocast, coming later this morning, I put forward the theory that they play exactly the same way as Jack Charlton's Ireland. Defend well, lots of pressure on the opponents, and then hoof it up to the big man who the Mugsmasher names perfectly. I'll add the link when it's live.

Today's Eurocast. 

Now, onto the Adebayor stuff which has become part of our daily routine. Sport is just trotting out the same 'Adebayor will pressure to come to Barcelona' stuff while El Mundo says negotiations are advanced with a fee of somewhere between €27m-€30m agreed. They say a deal could be closed in the next few hours but the small hassle is that Barcelona have to sell Deco, Eto'o or Ronaldinho in order to pay the money. Which, of course, is a bit of a hassle because everyone knows Barcelona want to sell them so they're going to try and knock the prices down as much as possible.

It's not exactly great business sense to tell the world you're desperate to sell, is it? Anyway, no doubt this will run throughout the week until the words 'Adebayor' and 'Barcelona' invade your brain, your dreams, every waking moment. Or not. Milan say Adebayor only wants to sign for them and part of me would almost like to see that happen. The idea of Ade speaking Italian is hilarious.

Andrei Arshavin 'dreams of Barcelona' according to his agent. Barcelona just need to sell the entire west side of the Camp Nou and half the Sagrada Familia before they can buy him though.

After being on the verge of a move to Inter Milan before Mourinho took over, then linked with Barcelona and Bayern Munich, poor old Alexander Hleb is now having to suffer transfer interest from Wolfsburg. His former Stuttgart manager, Felix Magath, is in charge there and he says Hleb is 'interesting'. Interesting in the same way a three-cocked badger is interesting but interesting nonetheless. Tomorrow Hull City declare their interest in Dribbly McNoscore.

And that's about it for this Monday. Another week of the close season begins which means another one has finished which means real football will be starting just that little bit sooner. I'm getting a bit antsy now. Stupid ants.

Till tomorrow.