Alrighty folks? How goeth it?

Mighty fine? Or ‘meh’?

The lack of Arsenal news is a little ‘meh’. Well, concrete Arsenal news that is. The main rumour rumblings appear to be Torreira from Sampdoria but in an effort to be seen as the leading light of insight on this deal, you’ve got outlets like Di Marzio talking up every single movement no matter how big or supposedly small.

This all feels very Yann M’Vila or Gonzalo Higuain, doesn’t it? It’s like the metaphorical London traffic. You sit there stationary, getting slowly worked up because the ‘estimated time until you arrive at your destination’ keeps increasing, then a bit of space opens up and you think “wa-hay! Let’s get moving!” Before you grind to a halt about 50 metres from where you were.

We get the same with transfers like this. Player wants move. Terms agreed with player but not club. Players agent can’t agree how many zeros he gets despite having little to do with the deal. Club issues a statement denying any contact. Player talks of the ‘flattering’ interest or, in Arsenal’s case if they are in for him, player denies he knows anything about it (because Arsenal’s PR people have got to him). Two clubs talk. Agreement made but player can’t work out what to have for dinner so needs 24 hours to think and then come back the next day. Players agent confirms that the player had paella and deal can be done. Stuart McFarlene takes pictures. Arsenal fans finally get an announcement.

That generally tends to happen and we’re at the annoying stage where it’s probably not as advanced as we think but to come across as a ‘legit’ source of early info there’s usually a media outlet that talks details of the deal before it’s got anywhere near that stage.

It’s just the world we have to live in. There are no more transfers like Sol Campbell’s in which famously only four people knew about the deal in Sky Andrew, Sol Campbell, Arsène Wenger and David Dein. That just doesn’t exist any more. Football was big business then but it’s a Goliath of a financial juggernaut these days and clubs need lawyers, fitness people, administration staff, all sorts that are involved in any deal and where there are many eyes observing the inner workings it becomes harder to spot a leak and that’s why we get more of it.

That’s also why we get more chancers who can speculate and get their kicks from some imaginary online leverage they believe they have. I used to get annoyed at these types of people for feeding false info, but it feels like the football world has sort of found them out and can spot them a mile off, so the instant cynicism is – for me – nice because people don’t get instant credit for saying something that could be remotely plausible. Instead they get treated with disdain until they can prove somehow that they might actually have the occasional bit of information that’s worthwhile.

So here we are, currently inching forward in the Torreira deal and whilst I’m not going to bother talking about each little nuance on the player, I will say that the noises about the club wanting things done before the World Cup are refreshing and heartening to hear. It’s unlikely that anything will be done by the end of this week I suspect but I’m just glad we appear to want to sort ourselves out now. As the Arseblogger said on one of his recent podcasts with James from Gunnerblog, the proof is in the pudding, but at least we’re getting something that looks delicious enough. We’re not just being told it’s delicious and that’s about it.

Anyway, only a couple more days to go until we can talk about the World Cup instead of speculation and transfers, so that’s at least something to keep us distracted.

For now, Aug wiedersehen and adieu to you, and you, and you and you….