Ramsey speaks - no defenders - and Villa would cost €40m.

Morning all,

it was a real struggle getting out of bed this morning. I was dreaming I was living in Barcelona again and I was sitting outside a bar close to where my apartment was drinking lovely cold bottles of beer in the summer heat. Nothing weird or bizarre happened either. Apart from all the cars were doing that hip-hop dancing car thing as they went along the road but you see that in Barcelona all the time. Honest.

Aaron Ramsey said it was a 'gut feeling' that made his mind up to sign for Arsenal. The young Welshman said:

It is an honour to be wanted by massive clubs like Arsenal, Manchester United and Everton. In the end I had to make the decision I felt was right for my future. I have come a fair way since then, but there is still a lot of hard work ahead.

Also, United's representative was some mouthy little cunt who can't even grow a proper moustache. How can I be expected to sign for a club when the bloke's facial hair looks like a teenagers pubes glued to his upper lip?

No doubt the young man will get some playing time in pre-season so it'll be interesting to see what he's made of.

Some interesting quotes have emerged from Arsene Wenger. He was talking about Vincent Company Ltd, the Belgian defender, and saying that while he has been aware of the player for some time he wouldn't be signing him, because:

I have decided that defenders are no longer necessarily needed for next season. Therefore, he will not come.

I suspect these comments might well cause a bit of a stir but they come completely un-sourced. Perhaps it was a comment made during his stint as a commentator for Euro2008 for French TV but they sound quite untypical. It would be most unlike the boss to let all and sundry know his transfer plans so really, until we have a better idea of where and when he said this it'd be best not to get too stressed.

I think most fans agree the centre of our defence is somewhere we can improve next season, but while AW certainly identified our inability to defend long balls as a problem he didn't necessarily say he was going to buy a defender. Anyway, we'll wait and see.

This is London suggest we're going to stun United again with a move for Blackburn's Roque Santa Cruz. I'd link to it but that's really all the article says and the picture they use is frankly disgusting so you're better off without it.

The latest from Spain is that Arsenal are apparently playing hard ball with Barcelona over the price of Hleb and are using the interest from Bayern Munich to drive the price up. Apparently we know fine well that Hleb wants to leave but the player himself is happy for things to go nice and slowly because the agreement between himself and Barcelona is complete. The other main headline is the €40m price tag that Valencia have put on David Villa. Can't we give them Hleb and Eboue and Gallas and a few quid and a voucher for Hamleys? Can't we?!

Arsenal.com are currently counting down the top 50 Arsenal players of all time. At 36 and 35 are two of our greatest left backs, Kenny Sansom and Sammy Nelson (which is quite the tongue twister if you try and say that rapidly over and over again). I mention this only because Cuntley Cunt was in the list of nominated players and if Cuntley Cunt is higher up the list than either of those two then whoever is in charge of that list should be stripped naked, tarred, feathered and made run around the pitch pre-game with a sign saying 'I am so sorry, I am a cunt but not as big a cunt as Cuntley Cunt'. Just saying, like...

Gary Lewin confirms Eduardo could return in pre-season but says there are no time limits on his recovery. Best to err on the side of caution with this one, I feel. He also says Tomas Rosicky will be flying by pre-season. I've got to take my hat off to the Arsenal medical team. What do you do when you can't fix a player's hamstrings? Simple - attach a Jet-pack.

Eurowatch - it's all over for Philippe Senderos and the Swiss. Undone in the rain last night in the last minute of injury time with a deflected goal. Harsh, I thought, they deserved more from that game.

In the other game Portugal beat the Czech Republic 3-1 and it was then announced that Scolari would be the new Chelsea manager from July 1st. I hope he's just as successful with Chelsea as he has been with Portugal.

Arsenal interest in today's games is restricted to Jens Lehmann in goal for Germany as they take on Croatia in what is certainly the tastiest fixture of the day. Austria v Poland later this evening doesn't quite have the same appeal.

And that's that. More, and possibly an Arsecast, tomorrow. The Arsecast is doubtful with a thigh strain but it's just a precaution that we've taken it off the agenda.

*cough*