He's got No. 10 this season.

Sorry Ricks.

Hazard was given number 10 at the beginning of this season.

Not happening Ricky.

Fucking fuck fuck. Motherfucking fuck.

We can always photoshop the pic so it looks like Cole is holding a #10 shirt if it makes you feel any better.

Poor Ricky

For 2 weeks now Wenger has been saying we are short in midfield. I will be amazed if we don't sign a midfielder even if it all seems a little quiet now.

the midfielder deal will go to he wire. my moneys on m'vila, for the simple fact he's the only player who hasnt blatantly squashed speculation like hazard and gotze

Gazza M wrote:

the midfielder deal will go to he wire. my moneys on m'vila, for the simple fact he's the only player who hasnt blatantly squashed speculation like hazard and gotze

It's a little odd if Wenger sees M'Vila as substitable with Hazard or Götze. He's not a small creative live wire like the latter two.

I think we'll get a central midfielder, but I have no idea who.

Nothing good's going to happen is it?

I would be over the moon if we could get 2 of 3 of M'Vila, Montolivo and Martin.

I get the same feeling Ricky but a lot of time left still.

I can't shake of this feeling that it will be Benayoun and no one from the wishlists.

Forget about Honda:

Keisuke Honda's agent, Kees Ploegsma Jr: "No, it is 100% not true [he is going to Arsenal"

Lobbyites on A-M have somehow managed to get hold of Yann M'Vila's agent's mobile number and are ringing and texting him. God knows how those conversations would go.

Keeping an eye on the M'vila rumour on a Rennes forum.
It's not even being spoken about with any great seriousness - nobody believes it's going to happen unless we're going to pay £30m minimum.
Not that they know any more than us.

Kel Varnsen wrote:

Ricky1985 wrote:

Nothing good's going to happen is it?

maybe this will be the end of wenger?

If things stay as they are, as in no one of significantly better quality than what we have comes in one or two key positions, then I think this will go down as the summer where my belief in the current set-up ended.

The only thing that can save us/Wenger this season young players stepping up in a dramatic way. Particularly Frimpong, Ramsey, Ryo, Chamberlain and Afobe. Otherwise we're scarily short in some areas. Crazy really.

M'Vila and Hazard, or other similarly talented players, were absolute musts this summer, given who has left the club. They should have been signed in July, at the latest. Really, really poor. Incredible mis-management. Unforgivable actually.

Yep, anger is starting to kick in now as the clock ticks closer.

A midfielder or i wont be happy. make it happen! 7 hours 37 minutes.

Gyan has handed in a transfer request at Sunderland. Would take him in a second.

Lets get Gyan!

Seems that the most likely destination for Benayoun is Liverpool according to the BBC.
That leaves us with tenuous links to Dempsey, Arteta and possibly a wrangle with Rennes over the fee for M'vila?

Arteta would be nice. Class player.

wanna see eden hazard prancing around in an arsenal kit with no socks on having a few photos taken

I could live with that.

Not too much prancing though.
Won't fit with the new bad ass image we're working on.

YoungGunsBlog Jamie Sanderson
Arsenal have confirmed Santos and Mertesacker deals, but are not longer interested in Yann M'Vila. My story: bit.ly/oRVNEg

He's just guessing based on the fact that Coquelin is likely staying.

Arteta seems to be the flavor of the moment...

Matt Law tweets: "Hearing Arsenal gone in strong this arvo for Arteta - think he's one."

Backed up by John Cross: "Hearing #AFC bang in for Arteta, very hopeful of getting deal done before deadline."

From the Montolivo thread:

Calcio_RH_UK Richard Hall
@MattLawExpress Im hearing news from Italy that Montolivo is on his way to London and is Arsenals midfield signing for today

Arteta and Augusto now being linked.

Augusto as i remember was linked years back and looked brilliant as a youngster. How has he developed at Leverkeusen?

Cesc out - Arteta or Montolivo in, is very, very depressing.

A big fat 'Meh' to Arteta tbh..

Montolivo would be a much better signing than M'Vila though, Ricks. Don't be so downbeat.

Montolivo isn't fit to lace Cesc's boots though, Klaus, and Arteta is, well, Arteta. M'Vila represents a different type of player, a different approach. That change could actually see us become a stronger team for it. Arteta or Montolivo playing a similar-ish role to Cesc, in a similar-ish system, is a massive downgrade in quality whichever way you look at it. Really, really not happy. Fucking Arteta Arsenal? Just not good enough.

YoungGunsBlog Jamie Sanderson
Lorient have confirmed the double signing of Gilles Sunu (permanent) and Joel Campbell (on loan) from Arsenal.

Wish Sunu all the best, and Campbell should do well there.

We're going to bid £10m for Arteta according to sources at the club (reported by Sky).

Ricky1985 wrote:

Montolivo isn't fit to lace Cesc's boots though, Klaus, and Arteta is, well, Arteta.

Montolivo is not coming here to replace Cesc. He's coming here to play a box-to-box role between Song/Frimpong and Wilshere. Same with Arteta I'd imagine. They're both better players than M'Vila and would contribute more to the team.

Aye, we still need an attacking reinforcement. But signing someone like Montolivo would mean that we're actually addressing the problems we've got in midfield, i.e. that we can't string three passes together without fucking up. Would make us less reliant on Wilshere too, and Jack seems to be out for a while unfortunately.

Not that it will happen, of course. Wenger would have done it long before he started to tie up deals for Santos and Park in that case.