Well there’s no other place to start this morning’s blog, given some of the news which came out yesterday, than this:

Should Arsenal just go and sign Ibrahimovich and Costa?

Screw general elections, Arsenal need a striker and clearly there are some people so worried about ‘the madness’ of Mbappe, that they’re already trying to find other solutions to a situation that will eventually end up in sadness for us all.

Ibrahimovich is being released with United and Costa told assembled press after Spain’s game that Conte texted him to tell him he’s no longer needed at Chelski.

So a few people have put down whatever it was they were doing, to raise the question about the possibility of signing one or both of the players.

Let’s make the answer to this question nice and simple though:

No.

N.

O.

Nein. 

Nix.

Nope.

Nah. 

No way.

Ibrahimovich is injured for starters and at 35 he’s probably not going to get any less injured as he gets older. He’d be a sticking plaster at best and an expensive spectator for the whole season at worse. He’s a great player and has shown that he still has it in him to bag goals at the top level. But at Arsenal we all know he’d spend all of his time on the treatment table. It would be inevitable.

As for Costa, I couldn’t think of anything more unpalatable, or unlikely. It’s widely known that Costa isn’t the biggest fan of this country and also that he likes the look of the Chinese Yen, so I think we’ll be seeing him move himself o the Far East in the coming weeks, even if we did want him.

We’d also be ignoring the fact he is a reprehensible character that looks like a failed science experiment. Signing Costa would be like splitting your soul in two, Horcrux style, and we all know that once you’ve done that you can never go back.

I have a Chelski mate (I know, bizarre as that is) who tells me that Costa has always blown hot or cold and that he’s looked like he couldn’t be arsed from January onwards, so I don’t think we need that type of player in our ranks, because that’s just what Ollie G does. 

So no, I don’t think that’s the sort of person we want at The Arsenal, not one jot.

The other news surrounds Alexis and I probably should have led with that as my main topic of conversation, given that he’s said his agent will sort it all out with Arsenal whilst he’s away at yet another pointless international tournament.

I’ve got to be honest with you; if we got close to £50million from Bayern, I’d suggest we just take it rather than lose him on a free next year to an English team, because that option is so unpalatable I don’t even want to countenance it. Bayern are starting their drip feed of public info to the press about what they’re prepared to offer and unless Arsenal get a clear indication from Team Alexis now on a new signature on that contract, we need to move quickly. We can’t have another summer poncing around trying to find an international buyer before taking the dirty money from City or Chelski. It just wouldn’t be tolerated. 

Let’s just hope that the actions we’ve heard of re: Mbappe and others are a sign that Arsenal want to do things quickly, for the first time in about 13 years.

Get that resolution before July 1st and then go out and get a marquee signing to appease the fans after the inevitable departure.

Still, despite that possible sad news, at least we had a little bit of positivity in the form of a Hector Bellerin tweet. We all know that footballers words are hollow, but at this moment in time, with all of the uncertainty, a player making positive noises about staying at the club needs to be chalked up as good news. 

Righty ho, that’s yer lot from me, I’m off in to work.

Catch you on the flip side.