So it appears as though news is starting to trickle through the airwaves that the so-called ‘madness’ signing is, in fact, Antoine Griezmann.

That would indeed be a fine piece of ‘madness’, were it to be pulled off by the club, Arsène Wenger too. 

But unfortunately, as is the case with Arsenal under Arsène and Ivan in recent history, it’s another case of what might have been. 

I’m not particularly surprised if I’m honest. I half expected it. As the story goes, we were interested and had been speaking to him for some time, yet a lot hinged on Atletico Madrid bringing in a big name to replace him, in a classic ‘dominoes’ effect that would have started with Lukaku to Chelski and ended with Griezmann to Arsenal. But of course we are Arsenal. We are always the ones who take the risk. The risk in this instance is waiting with no real apparent ‘Plan B’ in terms of a striker option, whilst relying on others for ‘Plan A’. It really does sum up the ludicrous way in which we consistently behave during transfer windows. We wait for others to blink and if nobody blinks then we shrug our shoulders and say ‘we tried’.

Hey, perhaps something could still happen with a week left until the window shuts. Perhaps Arsène will pull a rabbit out of the hat and somebody of note will rock up at London Colney who will blow us away. But that feels further away from happening than me being handed the keys to a shiny gold Aston Martin and being told to be Dennis’ chauffeur for £100k-a-year right now.

Something has to give though, right? I mean, I’ve heard stories about how the players need a lift – the kind that a new signing brings – about how everyone at the club feels a little on edge and that can’t be good for the whole of the club. The manager is behaving more erratically with the comments he makes and we’ve had a pretty poor start to the season that could go nuclear if we draw or – heaven forbid – are defeated by Watford on Saturday. 

I don’t want that. You don’t want that. We just want results. You get those results by getting yourself in the best possible position by signing the best players you can and unfortunately, that usually means you pay over the odds, in this market.

Do it Arsène. Do it Ivan. For Christ’s sake just do it Dick. Get those players in, then let us focus on the football and burn this transfer window to the ground. No real Arsenal fan wants it. We just want victories on the pitch. 

A quick positive interlude for you – how about reliving the ‘good old days’ by getting yourself along to the legends game on 3rd September? Im not usually one to plug these types of things – especially if nobody has crossed my palms with silver! – but that’ll be a great day and I bet it’ll be completely removed from the current atmosphere. Thierry, Dennis, Jens et al, all donning and Arsenal shirt once again. Beautiful stuff. Sadly I’ll be in Portugal, but will try to find some stream to watch it, as I’m sure it will be great fun.
Certainly more fun than we’re having at the moment, eh? Still, this’ll all be over real soon, when this infernal window closes. I’m sure I’ll have as much rage as you when it slams shut and we’ve only bought Bob McVeteran from Stenhousmuir to play as an experienced centre half, but after a couple of days that’ll subside and I’ll just be pleased we can talk about the football and actual matches. The Champions League will also be looming on the horizon, which means midweek matches to also distract us from the deficiencies of our terrible summer.

Let’s just take a moment to have a bit of sympathy for Szczesny, who sadly had another brain-fart yesterday when Roma were one down to Porto in the Champions League. The link is of a match report, but if you go online and Google the goals, you’ll see exactly what I mean, as well as remembering that for all of the good work he did at Arsenal, he always had those moments. Which is why Cech was an essential buy last summer.

Eugh, I just reminded myself of what a disaster that was too, top work Chris!

Anyway, that’s enough of my drivel for one day I think, you need to read something more positive. How about this – if you’re in the UK today, I believe it’ll be another scorcher. That’s positive, right? If you’re not in the UK, I hope the weathers lovely for you. Makes everyone feel a little bit better, doesn’t it?

We’re halfway through the week and Saturday 3pm football finally arrives for Arsenal this weekend. That’s positive. How about that for a bit of better news?!?

Right, definitely off this time. See you tomorrow.