Sometimes people do get a little too worried about stuff that they can have absolutely no influence on, don’t they? Of course this being an Arsenal blog, and me being somebody who regularly writes about Arsenal related stuff, I’ve probably shown a few examples of that in the past, but this morning and last night I’ve seen a few too many people getting worked up over a player who isn’t even ours yet.

First, the good news, which is Dortmund laying their cards on the table and admitting that Henrikh Mkhitaryan won’t be renewing his contract at the club. I know that for most people it’s been fairly common knowledge for some time, but for a club official to come out and say it, validates the speculation but it also ensures that a bidding war can commence.

The plus side is that the Armenian wants to play in England, which does narrow the pool a little bit, as well as the fact that he’s a top level player and will want to play for one of the big clubs. He’s also previously admitted a love of Arsenal and if you listen to the right kind of people, you’ll know we definitely have an interest.

It seems to me that if a deal could be done with Dortmund, this could be something we could get over the line quite easily, so I hope the wheels are already in motion if they haven’t already been.

The bad news is that his Agent Mino Raiola has waded in to say that the player would love to join United. Cue the outpouring of outrage from a few youngsters on social media, declaring that we’ve missed out on another deal, as Wenger and Law ‘dilly-dally’ over yet another talent. Now, far be it for me to seem like I’m hopping on the Wenger bus to defend the manager, but when on earth did vague agent comments like that be taken as some kind of gospel?

It strikes me that some people are just a little too worried without knowing the details. Raiola is talking to United about a deal for Zlatan. The whole world knows it. And because of that, he knows that dropping in a statement about United in reference to Mkhitaryan, will have plenty of people pricking up their ears. It’s the game. That’s just what it is. He’s trying to stir the market for his player now that Dortmund have put everything out in the open. If Arsenal are interested – which we think they are – then I think we have a good chance of getting the player. This feels like the type of deal that Arsenal do. Player is a fan, one year left on contract, opportunity to shave £10million off his actual price as a result, yep, this feels very Arsenal to me. So let’s hope they start to make moves.

He’s a very good player and would slot in at right wing to make quite a tasty trio, depending on who Plays up top. I’ve only Seen him in the flesh once, when we played Dortmund at the Emirates a couple of seasons ago, but you could tell he was a tidy player. We played well that night and he wasn’t as effective, but he still had a couple of chances and I remember thinking that he was a good little player. 

Elsewhere in the football world, Ronaldo was perfecting his ironic smiling with the referee against Iceland, as Portugal laboured to a 1-1 draw. Any situation which results in that guy being pissed off is a-ok with me. Of course I’m putting two and two together and making 900, but I bet every one of his teammates hates him. There was at least three occasions last night when a pass was on but he opted to have a shot instead. He’s the archetypal ball-hogger. Everything has to be about him and even when Nani scored, Ronaldo had a cursory pat on the head and slight smile to offer as all of his teammates celebrated the goal. So anybody like that who is not on the winning side in a football match is a-ok with me.

Anyway, I’m clocking off now, to go and shout at my computer for not being faster in loading up documents whilst I work. Cheerio!