News reports today inform us that Arsenal centre back Kolo Toure has contracted malaria whilst on holiday in Ivory Coast. The fact that Toure was briefly hospitalised tells you that whilst his condition is by no means life threatening, it's serious enough a disease for him to require several weeks full rest and recuperation. This will no doubt lead to Toure being some way behind his team mates when it comes to pre-season fitness, and it's therefore conceivable that the player could miss the start of the season.

Obviously, my thoughts are with Toure for a speedy recovery, however, one can't help but wonder if this situation will force Wenger into a transfer market rethink. I've made no secret that Arsenal's number one priority this season is to buy a centre back. I am not sold on Toure and Gallas as a partnership and even less sold on Senderos and Djourou as back-up.

No doubt the latter of the four centre backs will now move up the pecking order for inclusion at the Emirates Cup and Amsterdam Tournaments held between 2nd-9th August, giving Wenger an opportunity to see how they cope agains the likes of Juventus, Real Madrid, Ajax and Sevilla.

In that respect, Toure's absence, although not welcome, could well be a blessing in disguise, giving Wenger the opportunity to clarify once and for all as to whether Arsenal's defence will be able to cope with the numerous bumps and bruises of another long, hard-fought season.

If as an Arsenal fan you were dismayed, disappointed, disenfranchised or any other d about the departure of Alexandr Hleb, your mentality might well have been altered after reading his disrespectful remarks concerning Cesc Fabregas.

In a shameless attempt to get the Barcelona fans to like him - just in case for some strange reason they might get fed up with him at a later date - the Belarussian exclaimed to the Spanish media, "Cesc Fabregas explained a lot of things to me about this club. He loves this club. Now he's at Arsenal - but who knows if in the future he'll come back to Barca?"

Surely Hleb is not so ignorant as to understand that such careless talk will be picked up by the press and blown out of all proportion, only causing unnecessary controversy for his former club and team mate. Instead of saying something along the lines of "I have no idea, you'll have to ask Cesc", he chose to run his mouth off and spark another round of pre-season speculation about one of our players.

This is the sort of character we got rid of - spineless, so goodbye and I hope you fail miserably at your new club. I very rarely turn on players who leave Arsenal, but what with the ice cream saga, his constant and deliberate denials and contradictions and now this, a small portal has been opened into the mind that is Alexandr Hleb, and it's a sneaky, selfish mind.

Talking of arseholes. Emmanuel Adebayor is back at Arsenal's boot camp today. Where tight-fisted Herr Wenger will be making him do slavery-type things like running as fast as he can, miscontrolling a leather ball and sitting on newly mown grass enjoying some of the best footballing facilities in the world on a beautiful summer's day for the paltry sum of £30,000 a week. Had it have been Hleb he probably wouldn't have turned up, so lets see if Adebayor has a shred of integrity left in him.

Meanwhile, Arsenal beat Barnet 2-1 in their usual annual pre-season friendly. Nothing much to report, other than you have to be impressed that 11 foetuses could restore a 1-0 deficit within 45 minutes. When questioned after the game about transfer activity, Wenger mentioned that 1, possibly 2 players will be brought in before the end of the transfer window. To me, this means 1 holding midfielder, and a replacement for Adebayor in case he leaves. Unless Wenger is going sado-machismo on us - this means, no centre back. Make of that what you will - my thoughts will become crystal on August 31.

So, yesterday Aliaksandr Paŭlavič Handbrake Hleb completed his move to Barcelona for a reported fee of £11.8m. One suspects that he'll need to improve considerably if another club is likely to envoke his new £71m buy-out clause.

As we know, Hleb was a decent player for Arsenal, but the lack of end product means that he won't me be missed very much. 7 league goals and 11 assists in 79 Premier League games was a paltry return for a player of such obvious talent. Personally, I think Hleb was simply fed up getting kicked all over English football pitches week-in, week-out, although this would certainly have been a more valid excuse for leaving than saying "Hampstead is too noisy". I live less than 1 mile from leafy Hampstead, and it's not Trafalgar Square I can tell you. Still, he's gone now and I won't be joining in the chorus of boos and hisses that fans generally bate departing players with. He'll probably do a very good job for Barcelona, and create a lot of assists for his team mates, but I still don't think he'll score many goals because he's simply not designed that way - he didnt score many for VfB Stuttgart either, so in hindsight maybe we got what we asked for.

Since January, Lassana Diarra, Mattieu Flamini, Gilberto Silva and now Hleb have all departed the club for a variety of reasons. Losing four midfielders in six months is not something that I'm used to experiencing as an Arsenal supporter, and I won't deny it leaves me feeling a little insecure. I'd rather not submit to the theory that Arsenal are becoming a cash-saving, youth-rearing machine unless we win nothing again next season and Fabregas decides to call time on his Arsenal career, but for me the next six weeks transfer activity will go a long way towards appropriating the viability of that scenario. We all have our own transfer hopes and expectations, and with pre-season about to start the clock is ticking for Wenger to satisfy them.

At present, Arsenal have lost a lot of midfield experience and quality, although there's no doubt that this loss has been offset by the fact that the club was over-saturated by midfield players last season. Subsequently, Wenger has purchased two new midfielders, Aaron Ramsey and Samir Nasri, but they won't yet provide the quality/impact that Hleb, Flamini and Diarra would have provided had they remained at the club. Wenger is well aware of that, so let's see what happens. One thing's for sure, he won't be buying Gareth Barry for £18m - more like £12m + Hoyte, which would be good business. That alone and a world class centre back would give me a sense of relief and optimism. A high-profile replacement for Adebayor a sense of delight.

I couldn't help but laugh yesterday upon reading some brutally honest quotes from Arsenal full-back Bacary Sagna. When asked by a French newspaper if signing a new deal was proof of his long-term commitment to Arsenal, the Frenchman responded by exclaiming: "Not necessarily. In fact, it doesn’t mean anything." Before going on to say, "The proof is that most of the players leave even when they are under contract. The important thing is most of all to perform well. The rest is destiny. Everyone has his."

Arsenal fans need not worry, Sagna is fully committed to the club, for another year at least, but you have to admire his sincerity. I'm afraid we really have to get used to the fact that money is now the determining factor in whether a player is loyal to a football club or not. It's worth putting things in perspective, lavishly-paid footballers are a relatively select few when you consider just how many millions of people play football globally - even at amateur level. Top-flight players are the cream of the crop, and the cream of the crop get paid well whatever industry they perform in.

Perhaps what sets footballers apart from other high paid career earners is that their vocation could end in a split-second if they endure a severe injury - and even a severe loss of form can leave them at a lesser club on a lower salary struggling to pay what was once an affordable, yet massive mortgage.

That's why I don't necessarily believe it's greedy to leave a club purely for financial reasons - most of us would leave our jobs if offered a decent wage hike, let alone double or treble our salaries - and as reasoned above footballers have to take what they can get when they get the chance. My only objection is when a player spins a web of lies to manoeuvre a move - for me that lack of honesty and respect for not only their employers but supporters grates a lot more than their financial opportunism.

Talking of departures, Gilberto Silva looks set to leave Arsenal football club fairly soon if he can agree terms with Greek club, Panathanaikos. Gilberto has been a good servant to the club for many seasons, but I won't pretend that I'm sorry to see him go. The 31-year-old did not respond well to being dropped in favour of Mathieu Flamini last season. And by respond well, I mean on the pitch - it was pretty evident for the first 6 months of the season at least that when given the chance he wasn't giving his all out there, his motivation having clearly subsided. The 4-0 FA Cup drubbing by Man Utd was the peak of it for me. Although he wasn't the only one to have a stinker that day I was really quite angered at times by the way he simply didn't bother tracking United midfielders as they made late runs into the box. That memory stayed with me and, along with his previous poor showings, somewhat sullied my opinion of him.

I certainly don't think it would have been, or could possibly be, of benefit reinstating Gilberto to his former midfield position in the light of Flamini's departure. I would prefer Diaby or Denilson was given a chance or someone new brought in - that would be the ambitious move forward. However, if Gilberto does leave, I would thank him for the good years he gave us as he was a very fine player for a couple of seasons and, for the most part, consumately professional.

Before I start, yesterday I wrote an article on Justin Hoyte that provoked quite a negative reaction amongst many Arsenal supporters. I had to delete quite a lot of comments due to abusive language, which was rather unnecessary of those, but generally I was attacked for having a blase attitude towards a player who has, to date, been a dedicated servant to the club and seems more than happy playing understudy to the first team no matter how long it takes to secure a place, or indeed however unlikely.

On reflection, I regret writing the article at all - not because of the negative reaction I received but because I admit that I was wrong to be malevolent towards a player who has done little to deserve that attitude. I still stick by some of what I wrote - if I was Justin Hoyte I WOULD seriously think about joining another club to progress my career and also I still don't believe the word loyalty necessarily applies to a player when we have no idea how they would react if they did happen to find themselves in the position of being clamoured for by other major European clubs. Regardless, I was wrong to criticise on any level and don't mind admitting it. People may not realise that when you write a blog y0u have your good days and your bad days and you don't always put things across how you initially intended. Or maybe you did, but when you read what you wrote the next day it somehow seems weirdly inappropriate to have even gone there.

Having said that, this blog is called Arsenal Truth, not only because I plan - to the best of my knowledge - to print the truth regarding news stories etc., but because I plan to tell "my" truth. As an Arsenal supporter for 30 years, I feel I have earned my stripes and am warranted to voice an opinion - validated by all the good and bad times that this club has had to offer ever since I was a little boy.

So that's that. Now I'm probably going to stir up a little more controversy. By reading the various blogs and papers, it seems pretty obvious that a lot, and I mean A LOT, of Arsenal fans are beginning to get more than a little impatient with Arsenal football club and Arsene Wenger. It seems to me that there is an undercurrent of discontent regarding the lack of success in recent years and comments from Wenger in the press regarding current transfers (in and out) and, moving forward, the club's overall policy towards buying and selling players.

First of all, I would like to say that it is deeply unfair, if not a little tactless, to criticise the manager when there is still nearly two months before the end of the transfer window. I think us fans should really be a little bit more patient and just see what happens before bad mouthing the manager - and that's what people are doing. It's hardly Arsene Wenger's fault that we've had two mercenary players ask to leave, and whether to buy or sell, to whom, for how much cash and who to replace those players with is actually a highly complex state of affairs and not something that can possibly be resolved in a week or two.

If come 1st September you are not happy with who Arsene Wenger has bought, not bought, or let go, perhaps then you have the right to sound off about it and make your doomsday predictions - and you'll be in a better position to do so having at least witnessed a couple of Champions League qualifiers and a handful of league games.

I too have certain reservations about our ability to challenge next season, but that's all they are, reservations. They're not fixed ideas worthy of critical statements, as that would be preposterous when Wenger could turn up at a press conference next week with 3 major signings in the bag. Whether you think that's likely or not, it's best to just wait it out and react when it's more appropriate to react.

Everybody is entitled to their opinion, positive or negative, and I don't necessarily believe in criticising fans who criticise Arsene Wenger. No manager is perfect, nobody is immune to inspection - in fact it would be perilous to have a manager that was completely immune to any condemnation from either the supporters or the board - but out of respect, that criticism, if required, should be made at the right time - and this is certainly not the right time and Wenger is unilaterally worthy of that respect.

If you're feeling negative, then try to think more positively, we still have a great young team that will get naturally better every season irrespective of which players are or are not bought to complement the existing ones. Some adjustments need to be made, for sure, In the back of my head there are one or two things I'm not happy about either and I'll be the first to say so come September, but we owe it to Wenger to back him to the hilt until that day.

Try and remember what Wenger has given us in the last decade with regard to quality of football and trophies (and a bloody awesome stadium), then look across at our North London neighbours and see what that shower of shit have to show for changing their lousy managers every year.

In a summer of fairly benign transfer happenings, Arsenal fans have finally been given the news they've  been sweating over - Justin Hoyte is happy at Arsenal and staying!

Some players, no names mentioned, get erect at the merest hint of interest from a top European club, whilst at the other end of the spectrum once has to ask, is it possible to lose respect for a player that seems happy sitting in the reserves for 5 years with little prospect of ever being a first team regular?

Arsenal appear (willingly) saddled with Justin Hoyte - whose own lack of ambition does not necessarily scream of loyalty - a seemingly convenient choice of word for a player that in reality no other team fancies taking a punt on. Hoyte has accepted a certain lifestyle and declined the opportunity to chance himself a career at another football club by handing in a transfer request, much in the way Jeremy Aliadiere did prior to eventually getting fed up and moving to Middlesbrough.

From Wenger's perspective, I'm sure he's more than happy to keep Hoyte if he's willing to play understudy to Bacary Sagna and Kolo Toure for the next half-decade, but there comes a time when you have to wonder why Hoyte - now aged 23 - isn't thinking about developing his talent elsewhere..

There is no other news; like every year most Arsenal fans are wrestling with their usual mental dissatisfaction at the club's perceived lack of summer transfer activity. Don't include me in that until August 31st, I've learned to be patient where Wenger is concerned - but from talking to supporters, there generally isn't a lot of optimism going around.

Keep it clean, abusive posts will be removed.

Arsenal's Cesc Fabregas proudly paraded a Euro 2008 winners medal tonight in the Ernst Happel Stadion, Vienna! The final score, as if you didn't know, was Spain 1 Germany 0. Personally, I'm delighted for the young Spaniard. Not only does Fabregas posess maturity beyond his years on the football pitch, but also off it. Since joining Arsenal in 2003 at the tender ago of 16, Cesc has been a classy player and a very classy young man - and it appears likely to be in his character to stay that way.

You would have to think that Spain will also be strong favourites to win the 2010 World Cup - and Fabregas a key component of that team. Like France circa 1998, it's a young, super-talented squad that's certainly yet to reach its peak.

Fabregas has much to thank his manager Arsene Wenger for. Not many are brave enough to give such a young player such an important role at such a big club. Playing for any other top European team it seems inconceivable that Fabregas would have been thrust into the limelight so soon and therefore as advanced a player as he is now. It would be ridiculous to assert it's all down to the manager's influence of course, but nevertheless Wenger is a key reason that Fabregas is a European Championship winner tonight, and a player who also played a major role in that success.

My sympathy extends to Jens Lehmann. To be honest, he didn't have a great tournament and was perhaps lucky to make the final with such a poor German team - but in Oliver Kahn's shadow for so long, this was a great opportunity to bow out on a career high. Apart from his obvious character flaws, Lehmann is probably my favourite Arsenal keeper and I would certainly not have begrudged him a winners medal. Lehmann is a goalkeeper with incredible mental strength and absurd self-confidence. He was always entertaining to watch, and certainly at his peak just as good, if not better, than former Arsenal greats such as Seaman, Jennings, Wilson or Lukic.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the spectrum we have Sheyi Emmanuel Adebayor, who is swiftly turning into the new Ashley Anelka. Press reports claim via some fairly hefty quotes that Adebayor wants a massive pay rise otherwise he fully intends to leave Arsenal Football Club. Again, speculation is rife and supposition spreading like wildfire, but it seems pretty obvious that this is turning into a highly flammable state of affairs and one that Adebayor, and no doubt his agent, have been instrumental in sparking.

Personally, assuming it's true that Adebayor will only stay at the club if offered a double-wage-busting deal, I certainly don't believe Arsenal should cave in to such demands. This is a player who has won precisely zero in his career and is certainly NOT the finished article - it's still highly questionable as to whether the player is even capable of reproducing his form of last season let alone being paid the sort of mammoth wages commanded by proven club legends such as Adams, Overmars, Bergkamp, Vieira or Henry etc.

One has to wonder what sort of reception Adebayor can expect from Arsenal fans next season presuming he suceeds in his quest for a double-my-wages deal. For example, it's unlikely they will react graciously if he has a munter in the first few months of the season. You therefore have to conclude that the player has already has put himself in a delicate, if not foolhardy situation - heaping pressure on himself whatever the circumstances.

If someone's prepared to pay anything over £20m Arsenal should get rid. Blackburn's Roque Santa Cruz has long been touted as a possible replacement, and although there's probably not much truth to that rumour, he is at least living proof that a player can come directly into the Premiership and have a big impact (19 goals in 36 games). In other words, Adebayor is certainly replaceable, no doubt about it - and that's not sour grapes talking. Quite a few Arsenal fans already have reservations regarding Adebayor's ability - and mental stability - regardless of this puerile drama.

Sorry about the headline, I had a Caught Offside moment - you know, one of those frequent lapses of judgment when some dumb blogger writes a ludicrous and unsavoury headline just to attract web hits.

In fact, it appears nothing could be further from the truth as only this afternoon newspapers across the land have leapt into action, quoting Adebayor eulagising on how "football is more important than money". The quotes certainly suggest that the Togolese striker is more than happy to stay at Arsenal for at least another week. You can read said quotes on the Sky Sports website.

In other news, Cesc Fabregas - the star of Euro 2008 (not Andrei Arshavin - the 27 year old Russian who plays for the mighty Zenit St. Petersburg and disappears out of matches quicker than Ashley Cole  from a revolving door) suggests that Barcelona are very naughty for tapping up Arsenal players in public.

Fabregas mentions 7 players have been verbally and psychologically abused thus far, leading me to the conclusion that Barcelona are without doubt the sado-masochists of the footballing world. They "tap" up players, "foister" their history as a phallic incentive, then "grease" palms with lucrative contracts. If that wasn't bad enough, with their targets metaphorically handcuffed and frothing at the mouth for some hot Catalan action, Barca hunt new virgin prey, leaving their previous captors in a state of premature ejaculatory angst.

Ask yourself? Would you like to be tapped, foistered, greased - then dumped on - by a chairman called Joan?

So here we are, in late June. And when all is said and done, only the contract-less Jens Lehmann and Matthieu Flamini have departed Arsenal Football club, whilst the pre-pubescent Aaron Ramsey and approximately half of Samir Nasri have joined. At half time it's Arsenal 1½ Irresponsible Greedy Agents, Players and Lying Websites 2. Come on Arsene, you can do better!