Morning all,

it's all about the Cesc today after the Arsenal man inspired Spain to a 3-0 win over Russia last night. He made two, nearly scored one, set up another couple of chances and was, overall, the best player on the pitch by a country mile.

Despite not starting he came on for the injured David Villa and stole the show. On the big stage he did the business while the man everyone was talking about, Andrei Arshavin, was practically anonymous. Amazingly he's not even guaranteed to start the game on Sunday despite being Spain's best player in their last two games. If Villa is fit the same starting XI is the one most likely to start the game with Aragones seeing Cesc as someone who can make an impact from the bench.

That's not because he's a 'super sub' or anything like that. It's simply down to the fact he's a quality player and of course you can make a difference when you're as talented as he is. Ever modest he spoke after the game saying:

I know what it's like to lose a major final, I don't want to lose another one. If the boss says I can play that's better for me, but I just want to help my team.

Frankly I think Aragones would be mad not to start him. Which is why I expect Aragones not to start him (Villa's fitness notwithstanding). In the final he'll face Jens Lehmann, still officially an Arsenal player until July 1st. He said:

It’s a great end to a tough year and it would mean a lot to win it because in the end my difficult season was down to my club manager. We have had some discussion about that and I always told him what I was thinking about his decision. But I’m quite proud to represent Arsenal in Sunday’s final.

It should be a cracking game. Germany can beat anyone on their day and Spain look like they've overcome that psychological hurdle that held them back for so many years.

But back to Cesc. What a player. Seriously. It's hard to believe he's just 21 and has his best years ahead of him. Further thoughts on the young man and why I think he should be captain of Arsenal can be found in today's Arsecast.

In other news we're linked with a move to Sporting Lisbon's Miguel Veloso. That's according to his agent anyway so we'll take that news with a hefty pinch of salt. He's a kind of Flamini type player though which is a gap that needs to be filled this summer, either via the transfer marker or with an existing player.

Tomas Rosicky is off his crutches and now spends his day wrapped in a titanium frame which means nobody can bump off him and injure him again. He's coming back to London to continue his rehabilitation.

Spanish press round-of the day: Txiki Begiristain says that Adebayor is not the only striker that Barcelona are looking at while Sport mentions a possible €45m double bid for Hleb and Adebayor but Barcelona won't pay any more than €30m for Adebayor on his own. All more of the same crap though.

Right, that's about that. Time for the Arsecast.

In today's show I chat to the 'holic about Adebayor, Cesc and other stuff. The Man in the Bar is still on his holidays but we've got Eboue, Adebayor, a tale of the Unexpected and more.

To subscribe to the Arsecast in iTunes simply click here, to download this week's arsecast directly - click here (16mb MP3). You can find the arsecast archives here. And you can listen directly below without leaving this very page.

And that's about that, more tomorrow.

Vincenzo Morabito is a name we've heard a lot in recent times.

He was the man who Alexander Hleb went to meet for an ice-cream but at no stage discussed a transfer to Inter Milan with. No sir. He's also the man who said that Roma's Alberto Aquilani was 'speaking to Arsenal' back in May. Now Aquilani is on the verge of signing a lucrative new contract with the Italian club. There's a surprise.

Now Morabito is talking about Adebayor and some reports put him down as Ade's agent. But where does that leave Stephane Courbis? Or indeed Darren Dein who has grown very close to Adebayor in recent months. Indeed some speculate that Adebayor could ditch his existing agents and take on Dein Jr as his representative. That's a whole other story though. The point for today is that Morabito has been talking. This is what he said:

Arsenal are looking for Adebayor's replacement. Until that search is over, the negotiations won't reach the final stage, but I am fairly optimistic. What are the chances of Adebayor coming to Milan? I'd say today we are between 70 and 80 per cent.

As I've been saying over the last week or 10 days there's so much information being leaked to the press from all sides it's impossible to know what's true, half-true, vaguely true or absolute bullshit. You have to think that Morabito, being Italian based, is working on behalf of AC Milan who want to sign Adebayor. But as Cesc said yesterday Arsenal like to do their business behind the metaphorical bush while all the others are happy to squat in public.

The article says that AC have offered £28m for Adebayor. That's a lot of money. That's the sort of money that would make you say 'Ok, he's an important player but he's not Pele. £28m for a guy who's had one good season? Much as I like you Mr Adebayor, and I do like you, that's hard to resist'.

But we have no idea what sort of figures are being offered at the moment. What we do know is that there appears to be a team of people surrounding Adebayor trying to engineer a move to either Spain or Italy. It also appears as if Ade isn't doing a whole lot to stop them. You look at what Gael Clichy said in yesterday's blog and you can see how easy it would be. Maybe this is all posturing by the Adebayor camp to try and get more money out of Arsenal but let's not forget he signed a new contract, with a healthy wage increase, just last summer.

Should we give him a new deal again? Wasn't the deal last summer one given on faith? Sure, he'd shown signs of development and that he could improve but when even Arsene Wenger says he thought he might get 15 goals it shows you how far he exceeded expectations. Does that mean he gets a new pay increase or that he's simply earned the one he got last summer? Doesn't he need to do it again to prove he's a really top player who should be earning really top money? I think so.

The Sun says he's looking for £120,000 a week. Heh. I think no matter how highly you regard Adebayor you'd agree that that is way beyond the realms of possibility. I'd say that figure is an exaggeration, perhaps you could knock about 34.8% off it, but I suspect that there's some truth to the story that he's looking for money. If that's all that's behind all this scheming then it's a bit sad, to be fair. Let's wait and see what happens.

Do you want the latest from Spain? Well, it seems that the new 'trident', or front 3, at Barcelona next season is going to be Arshavin - Adebayor - Messi, according to Sport. But don't worry. Arshavin's arrival doesn't close the door on Hleb, apparently. Yeah, right. El Mundo says little or nothing this morning bar a deal for Arshavin was done two months ago. So a quiet one in Spain.

Ahead of tonight's Euro 2008 semi-final between Spain and Russia Cesc talks to Guillem Bollicky who, in his usual way, tries to stir the shit a bit about players possibly leaving Arsenal

Guillem: Leaders like you, in other teams, ask for more from club owners and managers during the summer.

Cesc: I am nobody to be asking them to do things. I want to be part of a competitive team, that is my only ambition

I do love his attitude but that final part is crucial. We have to provide him with a team and an environment that is competitive. I think we did it last season but fell away due to that bad spell post-Birmingham. We've got to do it again this season and the pressure for silverware is as intense as it's ever been under Arsene.

Those sentiments are backed up by the boss who says he's not stressed about all the speculation regarding Adebayor and Hleb. He says:

I don't know why I should be nervous. It's like when you take a penalty, if you are nervous it doesn't help. I will approach it with my usual calm. My biggest challenge is to make sure I have a competitive team next year no matter who it is.

So at least the manager and the soon-to-be captain (please please please please please please) are singing from the same hymn sheet. I think July is going to be a very interesting month.

Away from us it was a top semi-final at Euro 2008 last night. Turkey gave the Germans the proper run-around I thought and with a squad so decimated too. They found themselves on the wrong end of a late winner this time around though.

I'm really looking forward to Spain v Russia though. Two attacking sides filled with exciting players. It's gonna be an absolute bore, isn't it? They'll cancel each other out. I hope not though. Cesc v Arshavin. My heart says Spain but my wallet, due to the money I put on them before the tournament, says Russia. There'll be a review of last night's game and a preview of tonight's the Eurocast coming up before lunchtime.

Today's Eurocast. 

Right then, that's it. Early start this morning. Till later.

Happy Tuesday to you all.

Let's begin with the ongoing saga of Samir Nasri. Yesterday the player seemed to confirm a 4 year move to Arsenal on his official website, prompting news sites and various copycats to go into overdrive. Nasri's official site then went down and later talk of the deal being done was played down by the player's agent, the horrible Jean-Pierre Bernes who said:

Discussions are continuing between the two clubs and the player. Nothing has been finalized, no element of the transfer has been finalized and everybody is still talking. It is premature to announce anything at all.

Now, from the information I've been given this is basically a big load of old bollocks. The deal is done but for whatever reason Marseille don't want it to be officially announced yet. The delay, such as it is, is not coming from Arsenal's side. Whatever Marseille's reasons are remain open to speculation so while it's frustrating for fans not to have that official confirmation there's no need to worry. It'll happen.

Cesc talks about how he's a man now. Which is true. He was a boy. And now he's a man. That comes with age, you see. I too was once a boy and then I also became a man. Which is far preferable to becoming a cyclops or a nervous zebra, which was a very real fear for a while. I mean zebras have a nervous existence as it is. Imagine being an especially nervous one. That's no life for a boy.

He (Cesc, not the nervous zebra) also talks about Russia ahead of the Euro 2008 semi-final, saying that Andrei Arshavin is the man to watch.

The Sun links us with a move for Valencia's David Silva. An 'Arsenal source' said:

Arsene wasn’t just in Vienna to cheer on Cesc — he was there to take a good look at Silva. He is a player who would fit well in the Arsenal set-up, especially if Hleb goes.

He's certainly a very good player, I like him a lot, but I suppose the difficulty we might have is that nobody really seems too keen on Hleb. The Barcelona link has gone very quiet, what with them having to sell their vital organs to buy anyone, there's been nothing from Bayern and only Wolfsburg have said anything remotely positive about signing the player. So for all his desire to leave Hleb might find himself with nowhere to go.

There's nothing new in the Spanish press about Adebayor. Just the same old crap from the last few days slightly re-written. A deal is 'really close' and Adebayor 'sees himself at Barca' blah blah blah shove it up your cunts blah blah. Speaking of Adebayor he came third in the player of the season poll on Arsenal.com - that means top spot has to go to either Cesc or the departed Flamini. I think it'll be Cesc.

Squad numbers for the forthcoming season have been announced. Manuel Almunia is, as expected, the new number 1, Carlos Vela gets 12, Aaron Ramsey takes 16, Vito Mannone 24 and other than that there's nothing much changing. There are still some lovely numbers waiting to be filled though.

Austrian based Gooner Kevin provides the following info regarding Arsenal fixtures on their pre-season Austrian training camp:

22/7/2008 - Arsenal vs. Szombathely in Szombathely - Hungary (just across the Austro-Hungarian border)
28/7/2008 - Arsenal vs. Burgenland Select Team in Ritzing

Now there's an exclusive for you. Cheers, Kevin. 

That's really about it, so it is. My continued summer of 'que sera, sera' is going very well, I have to say. No stress here, no RSI from frantically clicking around NewsNow just in case this might be the one time that Sportingo or Caught Offside don't print something that isn't a load of scuttery shite, no grey hairs. Well, that's a lie. Lots of grey hairs but those come from having a teenage daughter, not from Arsenal.

Till tomorrow.

So far I have to say I've enjoyed Euro 2008. We've seen some good football and some exciting matches.

Last night's 'epic' between Spain and Italy wasn't one of them though. Italy were dour, negative and defensive. Spain lacked the craft to open them up. They were pedestrian in midfield until Aragones brought on Fabregas for Xavi after about an hour.

The young Arsenal man made a real difference. Spain still failed to break down the stubborn Italians but he tried to make the openings, always looked for the ball and frankly showed the old coach that he should have started the game. And so it came to penalties. Spain scored through Villa, Cazorla and Senna while Casillas saved from de Rossi. Up stepped Dani Guiza, pichichi last season in La Liga, and took a rotten penalty which Buffon saved. Cassilas then saved again from di Natale and the kick to win the game fell to Cesc.

Talk about pressure. Three times on June 22nd Spain had lost a penalty shoot-out in a major tournament but there was no Riquelme moment, no Waddling, and he stuck it away to send Spain through to the semi-finals where they'll meet Russia. No less than they deserved, you have to say, and I was delighted for Cesc. He showed real courage and composure to score under real pressure and it looks like he's come of age on the international stage now as well. He's got to start the semi-final and he remains the last Arsenal interest in the tournament (although Jens is still there, kinda).

Spain v Russia looks set to be a cracker though. Two teams that will attack and try to win, unlike the Italian who were doing their best not to lose first and foremost. In the Eurocast, coming later this morning, I put forward the theory that they play exactly the same way as Jack Charlton's Ireland. Defend well, lots of pressure on the opponents, and then hoof it up to the big man who the Mugsmasher names perfectly. I'll add the link when it's live.

Today's Eurocast. 

Now, onto the Adebayor stuff which has become part of our daily routine. Sport is just trotting out the same 'Adebayor will pressure to come to Barcelona' stuff while El Mundo says negotiations are advanced with a fee of somewhere between €27m-€30m agreed. They say a deal could be closed in the next few hours but the small hassle is that Barcelona have to sell Deco, Eto'o or Ronaldinho in order to pay the money. Which, of course, is a bit of a hassle because everyone knows Barcelona want to sell them so they're going to try and knock the prices down as much as possible.

It's not exactly great business sense to tell the world you're desperate to sell, is it? Anyway, no doubt this will run throughout the week until the words 'Adebayor' and 'Barcelona' invade your brain, your dreams, every waking moment. Or not. Milan say Adebayor only wants to sign for them and part of me would almost like to see that happen. The idea of Ade speaking Italian is hilarious.

Andrei Arshavin 'dreams of Barcelona' according to his agent. Barcelona just need to sell the entire west side of the Camp Nou and half the Sagrada Familia before they can buy him though.

After being on the verge of a move to Inter Milan before Mourinho took over, then linked with Barcelona and Bayern Munich, poor old Alexander Hleb is now having to suffer transfer interest from Wolfsburg. His former Stuttgart manager, Felix Magath, is in charge there and he says Hleb is 'interesting'. Interesting in the same way a three-cocked badger is interesting but interesting nonetheless. Tomorrow Hull City declare their interest in Dribbly McNoscore.

And that's about it for this Monday. Another week of the close season begins which means another one has finished which means real football will be starting just that little bit sooner. I'm getting a bit antsy now. Stupid ants.

Till tomorrow.

Morning all, happy Sunday to you. Today it's not just raining here, it's windier than an old man after a feed of mushy peas and cabbage. Oh well.

This morning's Adebayor latest is that Milan say that Arsenal want to sell the player but want to move him on to Barcelona for their own motives. Perhaps it's because we can get more money from Barcelona, or that we can sell him and Hleb in a package deal, or that we want a Barcelona player as part of the deal. Who knows? Not me, and frankly I'm finding it very difficult to give a fish's tit about this any more.

The Spanish papers latest take on it is as follows: Sport says Barcelona have to sell Eto'o to fund the purchase of Adebayor. Chelsea and Milan are the clubs they say are interested in paying for the Cameroonian lunatic but didn't Milan say just the other day it was 'Adebayor or nothing'?

Meanwhile El Mundo says that two of his Arsenal teammates, who prefer to keep their names secret (how convenient), have received a text message from Adebayor saying "I already see myself in Barcelona". They say that since Adebayor learned of Barcelona's interest a couple of weeks ago he made it clear to Arsenal that he wanted to become part of 'the Barcelona family'.

Excuse me while I just lean over and vomit. The Barcelona family? What a crock of shit. I'd rather be a 8 month pregnant actress and spend time with the Manson Family. As I said yesterday I'll wait to give further opinion on this thing, particularly with regards to Adebayor, but seeing two clubs with the 'prestige' of Barcelona and Real Madrid to have spent most of this summer acting in such a classless and tawdry way makes a mockery of their reputations, in my opinion.

In other news Andrei Arshavin does want to leave Zenit St Petersburg and there can't have been a manager in football unimpressed with him this season. After a great campaign with Zenit, in which they won the UEFA Cup, he's played the last two games for Russia at Euro 2008 and been outstanding. He was fantastic last night as the Russians made the Dutch look very ordinary indeed. He looks like an exciting player, someone I could very easily see in red and white, but it all depends on how much he costs and how much control Russian forces have over his transfer. 

The News of the World says we've had a bid for Diogo, Portuguesa's Brazilian midfielder, turned down. I think I read this somewhere else too. It must be true so. 

Not much else happening really. Tonight sees Italy v Spain at Euro 2008 and so far the 1/4 finals have thrown up some surprises. Russia last night and Turkey on Friday. Despite their wealth of attacking talent would it be a surprise to see the Spanish choke again on the big stage? I don't think so but I think I just about fancy them to take it tonight. Unless Luca Toni stops his Tony Cascarino impression I don't think Italy have enough to trouble the Spanish defence, which is hardly water tight at the best of times. Should be a good game though.

Rightyo, that's it. Have a jolly good Sunday, stay out of the wind. It's humming. 

Good morning from a grey miserable Dublin. The rain is teeming down and it looks like it's going to do that all day long.

So I'm loathe to start the day with anything negative. Instead let's rejoice and sing songs at the news that Gael Clichy has signed a new long term contract with the club. Good news and let's hope the young man can keep going after a fantastic season last time around. He really was the model of consistency and energy, his defending has improved considerably and if he can now add a bit more of an attacking threat to his game he's gonna be awesome.

Right, so from positive to tedious negative. The rumours about Adebayor abound. This morning's El Mundo says Marc Ingla flew to London on a 'lightning' visit to discuss both Adebayor and Hleb. They claim that Milan have a copy of a letter signed by Adebayor telling Arsenal that he wants to leave. A transfer request in which he asks to be able to speak to big clubs in Europe about a transfer. Quite a development, if it's true.

However, Marca ran a story yesterday saying that Barcelona had agreed a €27m fee with Arsenal but we've asked Barcelona not to announce it until we've found a replacement. It does strike me that perhaps the Madrid based Marca is trying to cause the deal some problems by running a story like that.

If it's true then they've blown the whole thing wide open, if it's not true and the deal doesn't happen then they make Barcelona look like chumps. As I said yesterday though there's really far too much going on around Adebayor for this to be all speculative. We've read his agent saying that he'd sign for Milan, who are playing UEFA Cup football next season. It's hard to think his agent would turn down an approach from Barcelona where Adebayor could play alongside Henry again. When he wasn't sitting on the bench watching Henry play alongside Bojan and Messi.

At the moment the facts, such as they are, is about as far as I'm willing to go with this story. Further comment or opinion can wait because we have to also accept the fact that the Spanish press are notorious shit-stirrers and putting words in players mouths or transfer requests on clubs tables is all part of the tactics. Let's wait and see.

Goodplaya has some info - and I know Goodplaya would not print this sort of thing unless there was something to it. 

Eurowatch - mad game last night, eh? No real Arsenal interest though. Tonight sees Robin van Persie's Holland take on Russia. Vague Arsenal interest in Andrei Arshavin?

Arsene Wenger talks about Euro 2008 to the BBC. Hopefully this plays for everyone. I know they're a bit funny with regions and things like that. He talks about van Persie saying he can 'do anything' and calling him 'top class'. If he can stay fit, of course.

Right, I'm off to enjoy the rain. Have a good day.

It really does seem like the Arsenal/Barcelona saga this summer. Much like last summer. And the summer before. And the summer before. Oh wait. Was that Real Madrid that summer?

Whatever. It just seems that each close season we have to put up with one of the big clubs in Spain trying to buy some or all of our players. As Barcelona confirm they're in talks with Arsenal about Hleb comes more on the Adebayor side of things. Sport reports this morning that the Catalans have made an offer of €29m for the Togonator. But although the newspaper says Adebayor is exactly the player they're looking for they won't be offering a penny more.

Although Arsenal say they won't sell him at any price they say that Adebayor wants to join, using quotes from the El Mundo interview I linked to yesterday. What can you say? I think I speak for most of us when I say:

ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

What a pack of tedious cunts they are. Sports departments filled with fiction writers - and while there's probably some truth in what they say the fact that it reads as if it were written by a failed Dan Brown impersonator almost makes me feel sorry for them. Almost. Instead I'd like to burn them alive just to save the world from this shite. Sadly, the thing is if you kill one two more grow back in its place. This is going to be a long summer.

The BBC says Samir Nasri has 'agreed' his Arsenal contract but the BBC should try and tell us something we don't already know.

Kolo Toure, meanwhile, says he'd like to stay at Arsenal for life. And I for one welcome that. A player who knows what he wants and doesn't need a scumbag agent to tell him.

Speaking of scumbags and agents we move to Cuntley Cunt's inclusion at number 25 in the 50 greatest Arsenal players of all time. What a joke. Sansom, Nelson, Winterburn, McLintock and Merson all behind this odious little cunt? Frankly anyone who voted for him should be locked in a room with an angry dragon who has cancer teeth and can breathe fiery AIDS at them. I do love the way that Arsenal.com made sure we knew it was the 'fans' who picked the players but they should know better than this.

Cuntley Cunt is the biggest cunt ever to play for Arsenal football club. What he did before being a cunt is irrelevant. If this list was the top 50 cunts to ever play for Arsenal he should be in all 50 positions, the little cunt. What a load of rubbish and frankly it's an insult to the great players who really did great things for our football club instead of running off like a greedy, lying cuntbox.

Raul Albiol's agent says Arsenal have not been in touch with him about the player. Ok then.

Robin van Persie reckons something beautiful is about to happen with Holland in Euro 2008. He's certainly giving van Basten something to think about with his goals in the tournament so far and I wouldn't be surprised to see him start the quarter final against Russia. I think van Basten sees something of himself in van Persie, great talent but slightly brittle. That particular quarter final promises to be an excellent game though after the Russians win over Sweden last night proved they're a team to be taken seriously.

According to reader Dylan, Arsene was on French TV talking about how the prices for Russia's players, in particular Arshavin, would be likely to increase on the back of that performance for anyone that might be interested in buying them. The Mirror says we're ready with a £10m bid for Arshavin.

Tonight sees Portugal v Germany with Jens Lehmann in action for the Germanians. Can their defence keep out the attacking threat of Portugal? Will Klose or Gomez actually score a goal? It's gonna be a good one, I think. I fancy the Germans to nick it as well.

Right so, that's about the size of it. More tomorrow.

"How much do you want for this player? I'll give you £25m in hard cash"

"No deal!"

"How about this great load of gold bullion?"

"No deal!"

"What about these precious gemstones"

"No deal!"

"A rare signed copy of Sergeant Pepper's?"

"Oh, go on then!"

It's going to take something like that for Arsene Wenger to sell Emmanuel Adebayor apparently. It seems the boss sent a fax to AC Milan telling them that Adebayor was not for sale for 'money or gold'. Heh. And who says fax is a dying medium?

As I mentioned yesterday there was a lot speculation in the Spanish press yesterday, none of it concrete in any way though. It just said that Barcelona wanted Adebayor. Of course this has translated in a cast-iron £24m bid according to reports today. There's more in today's papers but again it's all very vague saying Barcelona want to sign him blah blah blah.

While the best part of me knows what the Spanish press are like part of me keeps thinking of the interview Adebayor gave to El Mundo back in May, complete with picture of him holding and reading a copy of the paper. I wonder does his hero worship of Thierry Henry have any bearing on this whole situation. We shall see. With Barcelona admitting that none of Eto'o, Ronaldinho or Deco is wanted next season they're definitely looking for a forward. Adebayor certainly fits the bill.

You have to imagine though that if Arsene is so against Adebayor leaving for Milan he's got to feel the same way about him leaving for Barcelona. It's all mad, Ted.

Still, it was more positive about another striker last night as Robin van Persie completed 90 minutes for Holland, and scored, as they beat Romania to advance to the 1/4 finals of Euro 2008. He drew praise from his manager, Marco van Basten, who said:

I am very happy for him. He had a long and difficult time without playing and he was completely fit when the tournament started. Now he has finally played 90 minutes; he didn't start easily but worked hard and after all his hard work, he was rewarded with a nice goal.

RVP himself called the Romanians 'hard work' and he's certainly playing himself into contention for a starting spot and it's good to see him look sharp in general and particularly around the goal. Like every Arsenal fan I hope he keeps it up but more than that stays injury free.

In today's Euro 2008 games Cesc should start for Spain against Greece while the Arsenal interest in the game between Sweden and Russia is reliant on ex-Gunners Freddie Ljungberg and Seb Larsson.

Speaking of Spain yesterday's Mirror again linked us with a move for Valencia defender Raul Albiol. Valencia are in serious financial strife and clubs will be looking to take advantage of this - I suppose that kind of a situation would suit us.

And that's really about that. Don't forget the Eurocast, the Euro 2008 podcast, will be available later on this morning.

More tomorrow.

We'll start this morning with the news that the Aaron Ramsey signing was officially announced last night.

We got the usual stuff from Arsene about how happy he was to sign a player who can play in midfield, at the back, up front, in goal, do ballboy, physio, tea-lady, write the match programme and be a steward. The player himself said:

I’m so happy to have signed for Arsenal. I am joining one of the biggest clubs in the world and can’t wait to meet my new team mates. I recently met with Arsène Wenger and he was a big factor in my decision to join Arsenal. He talked to me for a long time about the Club and the plans for the future, which really excites me. Arsenal is a Club which always gives young players an opportunity at the highest level of the game and I am going to work my hardest to be part of future successes here.

So welcome to the Arsenal young man, glad to have you. No doubt we'll get some glimpses of him in pre-season.

Now, Adebayor. There's so much going on here that's it's very difficult to see the wood for the trees. We know about the interest from AC Milan and his agent, Stephane Courbis, is quoted as saying:

The player is fine at Arsenal, but when Milan come in for you it's difficult to tell them no. I know that Milan is one of the biggest clubs in the world and, when they want to take you, you have to really consider it. It's difficult to say no to Milan.

So what we can gather from that is that if Arsenal were to accept a bid from Milan then he would go. Now, this is according to the agent only at this stage but you have to think that Milan's prolonged interest in Adebayor is due to encouragement from the agent and possibly the player. If Adebayor said to his agent 'I am really happy at Arsenal, I don't want to move' then these stories probably would not be appearing.

On the other hand The Sun quotes Adebayor this morning:

My future with Arsenal has never been in doubt and I want to assure fans I will be here for many years. My agent has met with coach Arsene Wenger about a new deal and I am happy about how the talks are going so fans can rest assured.

Hmmm, I have to say I'm a bit suspicious about this whole situation. As I said yesterday we have to give the player the benefit of the doubt because everything we've heard from him has been positive about his Arsenal future. On the other hand though there's obviously something going on. Whether that's trying to get Adebayor a new deal at Arsenal or a move to Milan I don't know.

I'm not sure that Adebayor actually merits a new contract with us to be honest. He just got a rise last season and while he had an outstanding season with 30 goals I think football is in very real danger of being ruined by hype. A player who has a few good games is lauded as the next 'Zidane/Maradona/Henry/Pele' whereas in the past it took time for a player to build his reptuation. Players and agents are greedily trying to cash in when their stock is high, there's no long term thinking.

My opinion regarding Adebayor would be that he had a brilliant season last time around but we have to be sure that he can do it again before we start paying him big, big money. To me that makes perfect sense. I'm not suggesting that what he did last season was a fluke but we've seen players in the past have one glorious season and fail miserably to ever reach those heights again. If he sticks away 25-30 goals this season then fair enough but until then he'll just have to cope with the £35,000 a week he's earning. Poor lamb.

Some fella called Gervinho talks himself up and says he knows that Arsenal want him. This comes after his agent made similar claims. Sounds like a player trying to increase his profile to me.

'Yeah, I know Arsenal want me but I'm really happy at a much smaller club playing lower quality football, in lower quality surroundings and earning less money'. Pfffff. Do one.

We might be getting a bit of money as it looks like Bolton will be signing Fabrice Muamba from Birmingham. A nice little sell-on clause will gain us a few quid.

Kenny and Sammy at 36 and 35, now Nigel at 32. I'm still watching.

Cesc wants Alexander Hleb to stay at the club saying he's an 'underrated' and 'incredible' player. Much as I love the little fella and not that I'm trying to suggest I know about the game than he does but I'm not sure I agree with him on this one. He's a player we can improve on, in my opinion. According to Radio Catalunya Barcelona's vice-president, Marc Ingla, travelled to London yesterday to negotiate with a transfer with Arsenal. Let's see what happens.

Speaking of Cesc he's likely to be on the bench again for Spain today but he doesn't mind. They play Sweden later on this afternoon while the evening games sees Russia play Greece.

Yesterday's games were fun, I thought. Italy a penalty kick away from going out but the cravat wearing Buffon saved Mutu's penalty. Italy will be unhappy at the perfectly good goal they scored just before half-time being ruled out. In the other game Holland destroyed France 4-1, Robin van Persie getting in on the scoring. The Dutch are looking really, really good in this tournament. We know they've got talent up front but their solidity at the back is surprising. They've now qualified for the 1/4 finals and Italy, France and Romania all still have a chance. The game between Italy and France is sure to be epic.

Right, that's about it. Have a good Saturday, more tomorrow.

Morning all, loads to get through today.

I suppose we should start with the news that, as we told you some time ago, Gary Lewin is leaving Arsenal after 30 years to take up a full time position with England. Best of luck to him, he might have saved John Terry's life but we can't let that overshadow all the great work he's done down the years. Ken Friar says:

Gary will be greatly missed by all the players and his work colleagues at the Club and I know he will still keep in touch, as he will still have many friends here at Emirates Stadium. We wish him the very best of luck for the future in his new position.

His replacement will be announced in due course. Also, in more official news from the club Alex Song has signed a new long term deal. He had a few decent games towards the end of the season so fair play to him but I think he's still got a bit to do convince people he's the real deal. It looks like we'll be seeing more of him all the same.

Alex Hleb is now wanted by Bayern Munich, according to reports in Germany. This would make more sense to me although Deco, in an interview with El Mundo, says Hleb would be a good replacement for him at Barcelona. Meanwhile the Sun quotes Hleb as saying:

I’ve two years left on my contract. And if I do move it’ll be by mutual consent with Arsenal.

Splendid. Whatever. The Sun also reports that Everton are interested in Joao Moutinho, the player who is one R away from being a huge cunt. I liked the look of him during Portugal's game against Turkey. He's quite Flamini in his way. I'd have to see a bit more of him and any link is purely speculative anyway so I might as well shut up about him. Done.

Gilberto says he wants to stay at Arsenal next season but admits it's down to the manager if he wants him to be part of things. Personally I don't think we can afford to lose his experience and professionalism from the squad. I'm not sure he's going to be first choice again but we can't complain about lack of depth and let players like Gilberto go. The Brazilian has also warned younger players about leaving, saying:

In my opinion Arsenal is still a great, great club and fantastic for any player in the world. It's a gamble when you move to another club. It would be a good thing for them to stay at the club because they know each other very well. They have a better situation than last season and could use the feeling of disappointment as an inspiration for next season.

At the same time he admits that another season without a trophy would make it difficult for the manager to keep the squad together. The next campaign really is vital.

One of the youngsters who certainly won't be leaving is Theo Walcott and he's determined to become more regular in the first team. He's set himself targets in terms of appearances and goals and, like Vela, he's someone I'm really looking forward to seeing next season. His improvement was noticeable over the course of last season and I'm hoping that run at Anfield was him coming of age. For someone who hasn't really got going in his career and struggled at times with the adaptation to football at the highest level he has been quite effective in terms of goals and assists. What he produces when he really kicks on is going to be very interesting indeed.

The Guardian reports that we're favourites to land Aaron Ramsey despite Cardiff wanting him to go to United so they can have him back on loan next season.

Update: The BBC says we've signed him. 

Kolo Toure suggests we fell away last season because we didn't have the same focus and desire as we did earlier in the season. Is that another little dig at the lack of leadership from the captain? As we've talked about many times before I think the manager's got a decision to make this summer with regards to the captaincy and it's not going to be an easy one.

Arsenal interest in Euro2008 came via an unlikey source last night. Robin van Persie played 20 minutes for the Dutch who beat Italy 3-0 in what was the best game of the tournament so far. Former Gunner Giovanni van Bronckhorst scored the third goal too. In the other game France drew 0-0 with Romania and that was no more than they deserved. Domenech's team was awful, you could see how the dynamism of Clichy and Sagna would have made a real difference while William Gallas had a couple of tricky moments at the back.

Today's Cesc's Spain play Russia at 5pm while it's Greece v Sweden in the evening game. For those of you interested in a bit of a predictions game we're doing one over on The Week in Football where you'll also find the Eurocast, a Euro2008 podcast. There are phone lines set up so you can phone/Skype your thoughts on the games and take part in the podcast, as well as an email address. Details over there.

Right, that'll be that. Busy morning ahead. Carry on.