Right, lots to crack on with following a Jubilee weekend of celebration (hence the blogging amnesty), so I guess I better…well…crack on. There is a feast of Arsenal news for me to gouge myself on.

NB: My Jubilee celebrations centred more on the old pop’s birthday rather than the Queen. I’m certainly no royalist. I like that the country has come together in such a unified fashion, but I’m simply “not ‘avin” comments like “without the Queen none of us would be here” like she’s some kind of deity.

Andre Santos says he’d ‘understand’ if Robin decided to ply his trade elsewhere.

Now, I like Andre, especially his rugged style of play in winning tackles and his occasional Twitter faux pars. He’s established himself as a tidy player to have around. But I don’t know if he’s got the best PR team around him. Comments like that, especially off the back of Robin talking about how Juventus are such a good team, don’t help us Arsenal fans. He’s a player and we all want to hear their opinion about various footballing matters, but when the matters are so sensitive and likely to light a blue touch paper of gooner fan angst, I personally think they can be left alone.

I have to be honest and say that with every day I think a contract signing seems more and more unlikely. It just feels like the last couple of seasons when we have lost players and this year there is a European Championships – where I think Holland will go far – which gives an opportunity for some serious ‘in the shop window’ football will be taking place. Knowing our luck, teams like Denmark where Bendtner wants to make eyes at potential suitors, will be knocked out early and we won’t get the high fee we all hope for.

Laurent Koscienly will be rooming with Giroud and telling M’Villa how awesome Arsenal is.

I would be some kind of hypocrite if I said this is great to ear that we are on the other end of some tapping up for a change. When it’s happened to us we’ve fumed and taken to the blogosphere to bemoan dirty tactics of others, so whilst those players would be great additions to the team, I hope it is done in the right way and we capture them with minimal player intervention. Although I’m not naive enough to think that hasn’t already happened. The way that Mertesacker so blatantly talked up Podolski does leave a bit of a sour taste in my mouth but I guess what is done is done.

In relation to the aforementioned French players; I think it’s been great to see us linked with them but with Arsenal you always sense that we need to move quickly to secure any deal. Rarely do we hear (apart from Gervhino and Nasri) of protracted transfers being muted and then happening and with the intervention of the Euro’s about to happen, I just get the feeling, a hunch if you will, that should we not bring these players on board soon then we will miss out on them completely. I have a feeling that both players will feature heavily for France and that should Les Bleus have a good tournament, these players’ value will go up a level that Arsenal can’t or won’t, compete with. And let me make this clear – I think both M’Villa and Giroud WILL have good tournaments.

Is Mikel Arteta getting a new deal?

Whilst cooking yesterday and not getting any decent music on the old DAB, I made the unsavoury mistake of switching on to TalkShite radio to see what is happening. Like some sort of glutten for punishment I know – the clear agenda by that radio station is laid out for all to see and is not even hidden any more. The lazy and arrogant excuse for a ginger presenter was once again finding something to snipe about in relation to Arsenal and today was no different, questioning Arsenal’s contract policy by offering a new contract to Arteta despite him having three years still left to run. He also said that having it as part of the contract agreement is no way for Arsenal to conduct their negotiations and that they should never have included any kind of clause in his deal in the first place. I switched off soon after because I simply could not be bothered to listen to his moronic anti-Arsenal rhetoric. The transfer of Arteta was completed as the window closed. It’s clear for all to see why we needed him and if the option was a contract with this kind of clause or not signing him at all (with an hour of the window to go) then you’d be stupid not to agree it. But those morons on that station would never want to hear that.

Finally to round up, it appears we’re offloading Oğuzhan Özyakup to Besiktas. The rumours are a £500k fee with a sell on clause and, whilst I appreciate it is another step towards trimming the wage bill, I can’t help but feel sad that a player that many though would be breaking into the first team over the next year or so, has not managed the break through. It’s also sad because whilst young players like Özyakup are moved on, the ‘dead wood’ on high salaries like Denilson remain at the club, with the management unable to shift like an old piece of furniture even the rag and bone man won’t bother with. It makes me think we’re likely to see a few more like this over the coming weeks, and Henri Lansbury is likely to be another one I suspect, despite only signing a new deal last year.

Anyway, today is a new day, perhaps we will hear of some other movements, so for now I bid you adieu.