Happy Friday to you all. I have just awoken from the weirdest of dreams in which I won the Champions League for Arsenal by heading home a slice of onion from a corner. The ref looked, saw the onion in the back of the net and blew up as it was a golden goal. Weird.

Quite a bit to get through so we'll just get going. AC Milan say it's Adebayor or nothing while the speculation in Spain increases about a move to Barcelona. I know we've heard from Adebayor this summer saying he wants to stay at Arsenal but I have to say I'm a bit concerned at just how intense this speculation is. It's constant, it's not being quashed, and it goes a bit beyond the old 'Oh, we half fancy this player'.

Sport actually claims to have called up Adebayor in Togo and quotes the player as saying:

I don't want to say anything now in reference to FC Barcelona. Maybe in a little while it might be necessary but not now. It's better to wait. Thank you*

Of course he could have said "I have nothing to say about Barcelona" etc etc and it might well have been twisted to suit the story but that's what he's quoted as saying. To me it feels like there's something going on here and while I'm certainly not going to start pointing fingers yet it would be very disappointing if Adebayor were to agitate for a move now.

However, it does seem the interest from both Milan and Barcelona is very real and I don't think it can get to the stage it's at unless there's been some encouragement from the player's camp. We'll see what happens but it's all a bit scummy and murky in my opinion.

If he goes we'd need a striker though, that's for sure. Samuel Eto'o anyone? I'm not sure I believe this one but I'm also pretty sure that this story has been brought in good faith unlike some of the absolute bollocks you read elsewhere.

The Sun says we're after Obafemi Martins. Can't see it. I think his agent just uses us every single time he wants to get his player's name in the papers regarding a move away from Newcastle. Lazy cunt.

Nasri medical, holiday, sign, blah blah blah.

Some clubs want to sign Gael Clichy apparently. Well, some clubs can go suck a donkey's smeggy cock, cunts. Fuck. Off.

Eurowatch - Jens played last night for Germany as they knocked out Portugal. Sadly Ronaldo didn't cry which is a bit of a shame in fairness. It does seem that we're likely to see him do his crying for Real Madrid next season. Whatever I might think about United I can only hope that Ronaldo's signing ushers in a new era of shite for Madrid - the way they and Barcelona act over transfers really is quite disgraceful and if they pay £60m for him and he breaks his leg in the first game it'd be just what they deserve.

Tonight sees Croatia play Turkey and you can follow in the OleOle match centre - not forgetting the Eurocast as well which should be published later this morning.

The AST publish a letter they've written to Stan Kroenke after meetings with him and his team in Denver. Interesting stuff and it does look like a place on the board will be forthcoming. Hopefully I'll have a chat to them in the week to get more detail about their meeting and we can get it up on the Arsecast.

Speaking of which, after a week's holiday the Arsecast is back. In today's all-action episode there's a theme of negativity running all the way through, the Man in the Bar, a tale of the unexpected, Eboue and more.

To subscribe to the Arsecast in iTunes simply click here, to download this week's arsecast directly - click here (13mb 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.

*Other websites and blogs please feel free to use this information without the slightest acknowledgement as to where you got it. I know you're all Spanish speakers too. You're great, so you are.

Morning all and happy Tuesday to you.

Let's begin with news of Tomas Rosicky who looks unlikely to be fit for the start of the season. Speaking to some kind of Czech media outlet, he said:

It will be yet a long time before I return, but at the start of the new season - some time in August - I will hopefully start with training.

In one way I feel sorry for him. No player wants to be injured and Rosicky, when fit, offers the team something. He's quick, energetic, committed and he can score the icing on the cake goal like no other. However, his fitness is now a real issue. At the time of his signing people thought £6m was good value for a player of his quality and experience, now £6m seems like rather too much for a player who has spent so long out of the squad.

The constant niggles and injuries that have prevented him getting a proper run in the team are damaging to us. We need our best players, our so-called first teamers, to be fit more often than he is. When he does come back, and I hope that he does, he's got to prove he can stay injury free or we really have to consider his position. The same goes with Robin van Persie, I think. There's no questioning the Dutchman's quality, in my opinion, but as someone considered a starter when fit he's got to prove he can get through a season more or less injury free.

With Nasri likely to come in at least we have a genuine option for the left hand side of midfield and who knows if a bit of competition might do something to keep Tomas fit.

This morning's Sport newspaper in Spain says that Barcelona are negotiating with Emmanuel Adebayor and that Arsenal know of his, and Hleb's, desire to leave London for the Catalan club. Arsene Wenger has, as a matter of principle (don't you know), rejected the idea of both players leaving but it's just a matter of time before both of them become players for the greatest club on earth. They will leave behind the measly presence of London and come to live in the greatest city on earth and play for the greatest club on earth in the best stadium on earth with the best weather on earth and the best food on earth and the most poetic, wonderful, creative, special, interesting, hilarious and, of course, sexy people on earth. How could they resist?

Naturally it's all a load of speculative horse bollocks, the likes of which the Spanish press are, indeed, the best on earth at cooking up.

Nicolas Anelka was named at No29 in the Arsenal greatest ever players list on Arsenal.com. Frank McLintock was No30. I think we can safely assume this is the most stupid list of all time. I'm still waiting for Cuntley Cunt to appear and when he does we can write it off good and proper.

Eurowatch - Johann Djourou is unhappy with the Swiss coach for not giving him a chance in Euro 2008, particularly in the dead rubber against Portugal the other night. He's looking forward to the new coach coming in and I'm looking forward to see what kind of impact, if any, he can make at Arsenal next season.

Arsenal interest in tonight's games comes via Robin van Persie as Romania play Holland. A win for Romania would see both France and Italy go out, no matter what either of them does. I can't see the Dutch going out to lose, momentum is important in tournaments as short as this one, but will they be as committed as they were in their first games knowing that qualification is already secured? Especially when they know a Romanian win would see two very strong teams go out, even if they are both in poor form that makes like a bit easier.

We shall see what happens. It promises to be an interesting evening's football. William Gallas will probably play for France.

Don't forget you can follow the games in the OleOle match centre which features live commentary, live blogging, chat and more. Click the links above to go the respective centres.

Cesc talks about his form and life on the Spanish bench. Aragones is likely to make changes ahead of their game against Greece so we could see him start that game.

Right, that's about that. Have a good day, 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.

It's a fairly quiet Friday morning, so it is.

Yesterday more stories emerged about Emmanuel Adebayor and AC Milan, some of which say Adebayor has told his agent to tell Arsenal he wants to leave and go to Italy. AC have admitted their interest in the player despite the fact that Ade has made two statements so far this close season saying he's going to stay at Arsenal.

This could be because they really, really want him or because they've been given some indication by his agent that he would open to a move. I just wonder if there isn't a little too much smoke around this story for there not to be any fire. Adebayor must surely be aware what his agent is doing, perhaps it's just a ploy to try and get him an increase in wages at Arsenal. On the other hand we have his fairly unequivocal statements about his intentions so I think we need to give him the benefit of the doubt, for now.

Hleb to Barcelona looks to have gone very quiet. Reports say that Arsenal have asked for Yaya Toure to be part of any deal but I didn't find anything about that in the Spanish papers. They do say that Bayern have admitted their interest in the Belarussian though. There are reports that the Catalans have made a bid for a Sao Paulo midfielder and there's an editorial in Sport which says that Hleb is not the kind of player Barcelona need and they should not buy him and concentrate on getting Cesc next summer. Cunnies.

It also looks like Barcelona have made David Villa their top target of the summer. I did like the quote from Aulas, President of Lyon, about Karim Benzema. He said:

For €40m I'll sell you the ear of Benzema.

heh. Reminiscent of Del Nido at Seville who said similar things about José Antonio Reyes before we bought him. And look how well that turned out! Erm... 

Teamtalk reports that newly promoted West Brom want Armand Traore and Alex Song on loan for next season. Certainly Traore needs a loan spell, he needs to play regularly as for all his pace he looks very, very raw at first team level. As for Song I'd be surprised if he went, the boss seems to really rate him. 

The Telegraph links us with Robinho while there were some reports yesterday saying Atletico Madrid were trying to hijack the Nasri deal. All I can say is if Nasri chooses Atletico over us then more fool him.

Eurowatch - Germany were beaten 2-1 by Croatia yesterday, Jens being particularly unlucky with the second goal. He did get into a nice ruck with the linesman and ref after Schweinsteiger got sent off and for all their good football the Croatians are just a bit too divey for me to support them, which is a shame. Bilic seems like a real character, he's refreshing in the world of football management, but some of the antics of the Croatian players are a bit OTT.

There's Arsenal interest today as France play Holland in the evening game. Robin van Persie could play for the Dutch while Gallas is set to start for France. We might even see Vieira and Henry at the Wanked off stadium tonight. Italy v Romania is up first today though. 

No Arsecast today, sorry about that. It's gone on a package deal to Santa Ponza where its going to get the back of its neck sunburnt, drink lots of beer, eat chips and pass out in a pool of its own vomit before coming back next week in need of a holiday all relaxed and refreshed. 

Right then, busy morning, more tomorrow. 

Often it takes a young player some time to settle in at Arsenal. They need to get to know the way the club operates, its values, its traditions, the rivalries and such.

This does not seem to apply to Carlos Vela who wrote himself into the book of legendary Arsenal quotes without so much as kicking a ball for us yet. Speaking about the move of fellow Mexican Giovanna dos Santos to Sp*rs he said:

I hope things go well for him at Tottenham. He is a very good player and let's hope he can then move on to a better team.

A truly magnificent soundbite worthy of any Arsenal veteran. I can't agree with him entirely though. I hope dos Santos has a rotten time at Sp*rs and then moves to Wigan.

Transfer speculation is increasing daily. This morning's goodies include another story saying that AC Milan have agreed terms with Emmanuel Adebayor. Apparently they met Adebayor's agent yesterday and all that's left now ... come on ... you know this one ... yeah, they just have to agree a fee with Arsenal. Now, again it stinks of agent trying to wangle more money for his client but if Adebayor is as happy as he says he is at Arsenal why is his agent still tarting him around? I really fucking hate agents.

The Sun links us with Torsten Frings as a replacement for Mathieu Flamini. At 31 he doesn't appear to be typical Wenger signing but he's a quality player, we could do a lot worse.

I'm sure many of you watched Spain v Russia in Euro2008 drooling at the performance of Valencia's David Villa. He's on the market this summer and has said he'd love to play for Arsenal because of the kind of football we play. The hat-trick yesterday will have stuck a few quid onto his price tag but Cesc Fabregas is hoping that won't discourage Arsene from making a bid, saying:

I would like to have him in my team because as you can see he can make the difference. He's an amazing player. He has mobility, he scores goals ... he plays well at the back of defenders, in front of them, he's a tremendous player.

He certainly is quality and the idea of him dovetailing with Fabregas is making me a little wet. The headline on Marca this morning is 'Villa makes us smile'. I think that could be true of any club in the world, not just his country. As for our chances of signing him, well, I'd say they're fairly slim to be honest but stranger things have happened in football. I would love to see him at Arsenal. Congrats to Cesc as well who came off the bench and got his first international goal, with a header no less.

Robin van Persie says that Holland's counter-attacking against Italy was 'right out of the Arsenal handbook'. The Arsenal handbook would now see him pick up a nose strain and miss 4 months.

Arsenal interest in today's games is with Philippe Senderos as Switzerland take on Turkey. We might see Johann Djourou at some stage too. After the Greek horror show yesterday watching a couple of Sunday league teams hack the ball around a muddy field would be a pleasure. Don't forget you can follow the games on OleOle's match centre (Czech Republic v Portugal - Switzerland v Turkey) which has chat, live blogging, minute by minute comms and more - not forgetting the Eurocast which should be available a little later this morning.

Gary Lewin talks about his 'impossible' decision to leave Arsenal and looks back on some of the memories of his time at the club. Interesting reading.

I haven't mentioned Aaron Ramsey yet because while a lot of sites are calling it official and crowing over United fans it still remains unannounced from an Arsenal point of view. What is good though is that it seems the young man has passed the cunt test. And you have to wonder at United as well. Whereas we flew Ramsey and his family to Switzerland on a private jet to meet Arsene Wenger, United gave him a few hours being shown around Old Trafford by Gary Neville. Not much competition there, is there?

It seems the promise of first team football is what swung the deal but I haven't seen anywhere enough of the boy to know if he's ready for first team action for us next season. I suspect he'll start on the fringe of things, Carling Cup, and such. It'll be interesting to see the progress he makes. When he signs, of course.

Quotes from Alexander Hleb appear in this morning's edition of El Mundo. He says:

I still haven't signed anything. Not with Bayern, not with Barcelona. There's a lot of specualtion about my future but now I just want to rest and decide my future club later.

You rest up there, poor dear. Take your time. You just let us know when it's convenient for you. Good lad. Would you like a blanket? A cup of Horlicks? Shall I fetch your fucking slippers too?

So while I go make little Alex more comfortable I'll leave you to it. More tomorrow.

Silly season, isn't it?

£32 for Emmanuel Adebayor. I love the bloke but he's not worth £32m. Still, according to reports in Italy he's agreed terms with AC Milan and now it's just down to the two clubs to ...zzzzz... agree ...zzzzzz.... a fee.

This smacks 100% of an agent trying to frighten Arsenal into giving Adebayor a pay rise. Now, after last season I think he probably deserves one but in order to prove he's a top, top player Adebayor has to do it again this season and show that it wasn't a once off. I remember strikers like Kevin Phillips and James Beattie having great seasons but doing it consistently afterwards at the highest level was beyond them.

I doubt there's anything to this story really but players whose agents are stirring the shit are becoming quite tedious now. Speaking of which Hleb's agent is quoted in the Spanish press this morning and he says talks with Barcelona are 'ongoing' but nothing has been signed yet. Whatever.

Cardiff's Aaron Ramsey will fly to Switzerland on Saturday to meet Arsene Wenger. We're one of a number of clubs who have had bids accepted for the midfielder but the smart money is on him joining United. You see, this all boils down to whether he's a cunt or not. If he joins United then we know that he's a cunt. If he joins us then he's not a cunt and is determined to join the fight against cunts. It's possibly the greatest method of discovering if someone's a cunt or not.

Example - Arsenal and United both wanted Charlie Nicholas. Charlie joined the Arsenal, therefore he's not a cunt. On the other hand Cristiano Ronaldo joined United and I hardly need to tell you how much of a cunt he is.

Ahead of Euro2008 Philippe Senderos is urging his Swiss mates to get off to a dream start to the tournament. They play the Czech Republic. Meanwhile Robin van Persie wants Holland to emulate the football of some of the old Holland teams. They'd be better off emulating the winning of the 88 team rather than the glorious failures of the Cruyff era.

Cesc is looking forward to the tournament and is hoping to secure his place in the team and that Spain can do better than they normally in these things. I'm hoping they can as well, having put some money on them, although I will admit to a sneaky score on Russia at 25-1. Come on Sprussia! Don't forget you can follow Euro 2008 on OleOle's match centre.

Ok then, Arsecast time.

I was seriously considering no Arsecast this week. Not because I am a lazy bastard but because there wasn't a whole lot to talk about - still, you will be happy/sad (delete as appropriate) that I've managed to squeeze something out, like a poo that isn't quite cooked yet.

There's a chat with the man from East Lower, the Man in the Bar, a tale of the unexpected and some Talkshite radio amongst other stuff. 

To subscribe to the Arsecast in iTunes simply click here, to download this week's arsecast directly - click here (13mb MP3). You can find the arsecast archives here. And you can listen directly below without leaving this very page.

And that'll be that. Until tomorrow, have a happy Friday. 

Well, anyone expecting a signing anytime soon looks set to be disappointed.

We've heard the name Samir Nasri so often in the last couple of weeks it's begun to stop making sense. Like if you say a word over and over again and it begins to sound ridiculous. The situation seemed to be that Nasri was pretty much a done deal, it was just a case of him putting pen to paper. However, Arsene Wenger, speaking to the French media, claimed that no deal would be done before the end of Euro2008 and hinted that money might be the issue. He said:

I hope I will do it after the Euros. It is more complicated now because the wage differences are not as big as they used to be.

Maybe Nasri and his people are thinking that a good showing at Euro2008 will increase his value and enable them to ask for higher wages from Arsenal. Or from other clubs. I'm not sure what the wages they pay in France has to do with anything though. The other complication surrounding this deal is the presence of Jean Pierre-Bernes, Nasri's agent. He was involved in the corruption surrounding Bernard Tapie's Marseille in the early 90s - at the time when Wenger was manager of Monaco. We know what AW thought of that, he's been quite outspoken about it and it wouldn't be a stretch to suggest there are some personal grievances there, for sure.

Would it be possible that Bernes would be so petty as to put the deal in jeopardy because of this? Frankly a football agent is capable of anything. Killing their own mum, devouring their young moments after being born, listening to Phil Collins music, anything. So this is well within the realms of possibility.

So, for the time being it looks like this one is on the back burner. I'm maintaining my transfer chill-out zone though, it's still way too early in the summer to get stressed about something like this.

Update: I have just been reliably informed that Arsene's comments about money were in relation to a separate question asked by journalists about how easy it was to buy players in France these days. It had nothing whatsoever to do with Nasri, and the hold up with the deal is not money related. It has more to do with some legal mumbo-jumbo. So there you go.

Meanwhile reports in Spain say Alexander Hleb, the one we thought Nasri would be replacing, is moving ever closer to a move to Barcelona, althoug there's nothing really new to report.

Ahead of Euro2008 Holland are waiting on the fitness of Robin van Persie. Now it's a whole nation rather than just Arsenal fans. I suspect they'll be waiting.

Yesterday's barely coherent report in the Telegraph about Arsene Wenger going to PSG was dismissed by the man himself. It wasn't supposed to happen until 2011 anyway so I don't know what all the fuss was about.

Right, at this early stage that's about it. It's another glorious day here, a bank holiday too. Till tomorrow.

Morning all, it's another beautiful sunny day here.

We'll start with Arsene Wenger talking about the transfer market, which he feels is on the point of collapse. With the introduction of the Webster ruling players over 28 years of age can buy out their contract after a 'protected' period of just 2 years. The boss says:

Believe me, soon someone will challenge that and ask why at 28 years old and not, say, at 27. And then it will be why after two years and not one? Once you get to that stage, the transfer system is dead. You'd have a team built for a year - then you are in big trouble.

And he's right too. I know there are employment laws, some of which work well for football (when you think about how the 6+5 mongfest can't happen) but on the other hand football, more than most businesses, needs stability and the demand for 'employees' must be unique. When you can't plan for more than a season then it's certainly going to make managers lives more difficult but it'll be a godsend for agents. You have to laugh at Jonathan Barnett saying:

In real terms, it's the clubs who invariably force players to break contracts.

Yes, and its agents who help them every step of the way. Chelsea definitely offered Ashley Cole more money but I don't think Chelsea did anything until they were given the 'green light' by Barnett. Slimy cunt.

I think there'll be a landmark case soon. One high profile player will use the Webster clause to leave - I'm told Hleb was seriously considering it this summer - and then the rest will follow. Once that happens it's going to totally fuck the transfer market. Why bid for a player when you can just pay off his contract? You might have to wait a year, perhaps, but if it saves you money then that's what you're going to do. I suspect it'll just drive up wages as well. Whatever way you look at it though the traditional transfer market seems to be on its last legs.

The Telegraph links Arsene to a role at PSG in 2011. I link to this only because it's the worst article I have ever read on any website ever. And I've read the official Sp*rs website once. Someone in the 'graph needs to have a word and get a good copy editor in there. I might have a spare one actually! 

The People links us with Hamburg's Piotr Trochowski, he's earmarked for the Flamini role, apparently. Meanwhile Cardiff will sell Aaron Ramsey if they can have him back on loan next season while AW thinks teams that play attacking football should be rewarded.

Right, that's about it. I'm off to get the back of my neck sunburnt. More sunburnt. Bank holiday weekend here too, have fun. 

Good morning to you all,

it is very quiet today, I have to say. This is the way of the summer. I'm trying to go through today's blog without mentioning ***** ***** as it's all a bit boring now. When he signs, he signs. Until then I'm not getting involved in any of the rest of it.

AC Milan have targetted Adebayor, it seems. They've also targetted Eto'o and Drogba who are much more available this summer so I don't think we've got anything to worry about. You'd have to laugh if Drogba went to AC Milan though - take that Flamster! UEFA Cup football now you have to play with that cunt. Football is a hilarious game sometimes.

Gael Clichy, whose middle name should be Winston, I think, says that Arsenal won't make the same mistakes next season when it comes to the pursuit of the title. He says:

Arsenal won't make the same mistakes next season when it comes to the pursuit of the title.

Good man, Winston! I'm right behind you. Thankfully he didn't get picked for France this summer so he can chill out on the beach drinking rum based cocktails and recharge his batteries fully for the season ahead in which Arsenal won't make the same mistakes next season when it comes to the pursuit of the title.

Alexander Hleb's agent creams himself over the news that Real Madrid are after his client. He says:

This is fucking sweet. Honestly. Inter, Barcelona and Real Madrid all want to sign Alexander. It's great. Do you have any idea what this will do for my profile? I'll have a stable full of Eastern European players now all convinced I can get them a move to a big club and I'll take my percentage of their wages and buy a big house and a big car and I might even have a harem. I've always wanted a harem and girls to put their finger up my bum.

Some people. I dunno, it's a crazy world we live in folks. Right, that's about all the news there is. I suppose we should get on with the Arsecast.

Firstly, there were some problems with the iTunes music store so if you want to subscribe directly via that simply click here and it should do the rest. If you don't want to use the store go to iTunes > Advanced > Subscribe to podcast and enter the feed URL which you can copy from here.

Obviously you can use that feed in whatever your favourite podcast getting feed type program you use.

To download this week's arsecast directly - click here (14mb MP3). You can find the arsecast archives here. And you can listen directly below without leaving this very page.

And that's it. Have a fine Friday. I'll be back with more tomorrow.