I get that Nacho Monreal is of an age where his stock is falling somewhat. I understand that we’ve see. A decline in his levels of reliability that we have had for so many years. It’s why the club went out and got Kieran Tierney and had the Scot not been injured having recently had surgery, moving Monreal on in this window would have made sense. The club get a fee, we boost the coffers a bit, Monreal gets to head back to Spain and get himself a deal for a few years that he can enjoy.

But this deal – expected to be announced soon – doesn’t feel like one that was on the cards when both Josh Kroenke and Unai Emery separately admitted some players might need to move on. We all thought he was talking about Elneny and Mustafi and whilst the Egyptian appears to be attracting some clubs in France, the German is getting little attention from mainland Europe it seems. the noises from Monaco appear to have quietened and sadly it’s not as if there are an army of suitors for him. That’s what happens when you’re prone to high-profile gaffs but by and large your stats show that you’re not as bad as everyone thinks. The club will be wanting better price and if the rumours of £25million are true they might find themselves without a buyer and having to integrate him back in to the first team.

We all know that our budget this season has been tight and we know that outgoings to boost the coffers would need to be a thing for us. But I don’t think many of us thought that Iwobi, Koscielny and probably Monreal, would be some of those players heading out the exit door.

Like I said at the start of today’s ramblings, this all feels a little too risky to me, because it’s not like everyone is fit. Kolasinac still hasn’t started a Premier League game yet and we’re going to be asking him to jump right in for the North London Derby on Sunday afternoon. Perhaps he’s going to play and put in a beast of a performance, but it doesn’t exactly match the pragmatic approach of Unai Emery this season in bringing in returning players with truncated preseasons, gradually, to mitigate any risks of injury, etc. It all just feels a little weird to me.

And what happens if Kolasinac goes down injured between now and when Tierney is available for first team football? Who steps in? Maitland-Niles as a left back? He’s done it before I guess but then you’re looking at trying to find a makeshift solution on the right. We have Chambers and Mustafi who can do that but if Mustafi is shunted out of the door that leaves Calum Chambers who, let’s be honest here, has hardly been exemplary as a full back when we’ve seen him.

Again, I think it’s important that I get across that I understand the motives for moving Monreal on and getting a few pennies for him, I really do. I just don’t get the timing of it. It feels like a perfect January move once Tierney is fully integrated in to the first team squad.

But I guess ultimately we’ve been calling this summer a success and the new transfer team appear to have done the business with so many players coming in and going out, so it’s hardly to question their thinking at a time where optimism seems to have returned to the club, having had anything but in the months of May and June this year. Perhaps Raul and Edu have a master plan they are enacting and we just have to watch and appreciate as it plays out.

I just hope Kolasinac stays fit for the foreseeable future, because we’re really gonna need him to.

Catch you all tomorrow.