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*

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.