A quiet day yesterday by recent standards. Known facts first, Samir Nasri is now officially an Arsenal player for an undisclosed fee. Presumably this means other transfers can now move ahead but more of them later. Kerrea Gilbert has joined Leicester City on a season long loan which in itself is unusual by Arsene’s standards given that it is Gilbert’s third loan spell away from the exalted atmosphere of Arsenal. I seem to recall reading something about ‘problems’ at both clubs with attitude but that could be my memory playing tricks at the Godforsaken hour that this being typed.

Thierry Henry having praised Dos Santos now turns his attentions to Carlos Vela and believes the youngster will be a success in England,

He showed last year with Osasuna what a good player he is

Milan meanwhile come up with the highly unlikely scenario that Adebayor is worth €30m plus Yoann Gorcuff. It seems improbable simply because Gorcuff is on loan at Bordeaux. Now, it could be that there is something in the regulations or loan deal that says he moves to another club if he is sold by Milan, for Arsene buying a player and not having him for a year seems a strange deal. Yet it does not in many respects, simply because of the example of Vela – a loan through necessity initially. The other fly in that ointment is that Gorcuff may not be able to move to Arsenal this season because FIFA regulations do not allow a player to turn out at more than two clubs in any one season, although whether that requires them to actually take to the field I cannot recall.

It does not really matter because he is going to Barcelona anyway, something that Sport is certain of and now that Joan Laporta has firmly stuck his middle finger up to the Socios – so much for members owning a club; the majority want you out but you treat the place like a personal fiefdom. Mark Ingla continues to clock up the Air Miles in the negotiations but Barcelona are frustrated with the re-emergence of AC Milan and because Arsenal will not reduce the price downwards, sticking firm at €35m. Given Arsenal depart for Austria in ten days, this one wil no doubt shift a long somewhat but if I were Arsene, I would play Adebayor at Barnet to make sure he gets the message that until someone matches the asking price, he is an Arsenal player and will perform when required.

The Spaniards are still banging on about Hleb costing €15m (rising to €18m) which is £1:€1 exchange rate to what the English media are reporting. Oh, hold on, the offer has not been accepted yet by Arsenal.

Meanwhile Nigel Winterburn brings a sense of realism to recent movements in and out of the club. The point I think is that Arsene has been lucky until now. Prior to the past twelve months, the list of those moving when their powers were either peaking or yet to reach those levels was probably Overmars, Anelka and I really struggle after that. With hindsight, and a lot of luck in the latter’s case, Arsene got away with it.

In the past twelve months, Diarra, Flamini and now the Dynamic Duo are bucking that trend. It was always coming that some would leave before their time, a situation no doubt exacerbated by a lack of silverware and the chance to be a big money fish in another pond. The wage structure is set to ensure that Arsenal are not overburdened by their debt and not susceptible to malevolent charms of knights on white chargers that turn out to have been covered by a cheap waterbased paint and reveal themselves to be black underneath.

It is not the scenario that some want but the cloth has been cut and Arsene must use it accordingly. Quite reasonably, there are negative comparisons made with the retention of players over the same period at Old Trafford but Ferguson suffers no less than Wenger. They both make poor signings, good signings, tend to get it right in terms of usefulness of players and are entering a phase were loyalty to contracts means diddly squat. Trophies it seems are secondary to money.

’til Tomorrow.