Good day to you all. We find ourselves in a kind of mini-Interlull with quite a number of our players in action for their countries tonight.

Last night saw Brazil play Italy at the Grove (2-0 Brazil) and a return to the old stomping ground for Gilberto Silva. He's enjoying life in Greece it seems, and nobody could begrudge him that. Speaking about the current Arsenal side and its troubles, he says:

It's only my opinion, and I could be proved wrong, but I think Arsenal made a mistake letting some of the more experienced players go. He thought it would be good for the development of the younger players. They're having to learn for themselves and that's hard. These players need to find that killer instinct. They can get there but it takes time. I hope it comes quickly.

It's proving a tall order for some of them and I wonder now does Wenger regret letting the Brazilian leave. Yes, he had found himself frozen out by the form of Flamini but last summer Flamini had gone, Diarra had gone in the January, and when Gilberto was allowed to leave everyone assumed a suitable replacement would be forthcoming.

We all know now it wasn't and I think we can all see what a mistake that was. What I wouldn't give now for his experience, his leadership, his ability to step up when needed. Remember when he captained the side in Henry's absence? Remember the fact he got into double figures in goals? When the team needed him he was there.

Now, in the absence of Cesc and with the others struggling to prove their readiness, he'd be a fantastic player to have in the squad. Now, I'm not saying he was perfect but he's better than what we have at the moment and I'll argue that with you till the cows come home.

It's a measure of the man too that despite how poorly he was treated, and I think he got a bum deal from Arsene Wenger, he remains a gentleman about the manager and about his time at Arsenal. I miss Gilberto.

Theo Walcott says he could be back in contention for the Champions League game against Roma. He's still in the rehab stages but the signs are good this could be the end of his shoulder problems. He's also looking forward to playing with the new boy, Andrei Arshavin, saying:

When he gets his fitness back up, he will be a top player for us definitely. I have seen him on YouTube a lot, watching how he plays, the balls he can spot. He can do unbelievable passes. He is going to be a good addition to the squad.

In the absence of newly crowned African Player of the Year, Emmanuel Adebayor, it's likely that Nicklas Bendtner will get the nod to partner Robin van Persie. As usual the big Dane is not short on self-confidence, saying:

I still feel that when I play my best, I should start, regardless of who is fit or who is injured. Of course, chances for me have improved with someone else out injured. But I still hope that he (Adebayor) will be back soon, as we need him in the team.

I think it's probably fair to say we haven't seen the best of Bendtner this season but he is only 20 years of age. His style does him no favours, he's a bit Kanu-esque in his loping about the pitch, but he doesn't have the tricks of the Nigerian to wow the crowd. But he's capable of scoring goals and while his return isn't great so far this season it's kind of on a par with the rest of the team.

When he had a run of games earlier in the season due to injuries elsewhere I think he'd admit he didn't do himself justice. Now we need him to take this new chance. Perhaps the increased competition for places up front will be a spur to all the forwards. Eduardo's coming back, Arshavin can play the 'number 10' role, Theo will be back and if Arshavin is starting at right midfield then he becomes an option up front, Carlos Vela is in the mix. 

If only we had those kind of options in other areas of the pitch. It wouldn't be a surprise to see Bendtner and Vela start against Cardiff. They seemed to have a good understanding in some of the Carling Cup games earlier in the season. Let's wait and see.

Arsenal Youth has some info on Amaury Bischoff PI scoring for Portugal U21s and some English players involved in the Arsenal U19 squad. 

Other than that it's pretty quiet so keep your fingers crossed our guys come through tonight's internationals without picking up any injuries, more tomorrow. 

Morning all, another week over (nearly) and tomorrow sees our first pre-season friendly take place. Woo hoooo!

There's only one place to start this morning and that's the departure of Gilberto Silva, confirmed officially by the club yesterday. In stark contrast to the rather cutting remarks made by Arsene Wenger about Hleb's move the official website was full of good cheer towards the Brazilian, and so it should be. He's been a fantastic servant since he joined in the summer of 2002, been an integral part of title and trophy winning sides and, in an era when players are all too willing to throw a strop at the slightest little things, he's been a model professional in the face of some serious disappointments.

It really wasn't until he spent a long time out with a serious back injury that people realised what he brought to the side. Never the most dynamic or creative he had a natural defensive instinct and was always aware of where the team needed cover. If a centre-half went forward he automatically slotted into their position to cover. 

He had some landmark moments too. He scored on his debut against Liverpool in the Charity Shield, he scored what was then the fastest ever Champions League goal against PSV (despite giving the ball away, heh), and he scored our first goal at the new stadium as we drew 1-1 against Aston Villa on the opening day of the 2006-7 season. And that year was probably his finest as an Arsenal player. He led the team in the absence of Thierry Henry, scored a lot of goals and was, to my mind, our best player that year.

Last summer he went to the Copa America with Brazil and suffered for it. Most expected him to be made captain, Arsene went with William Gallas, a move which, in hindsight, turned out to be as poor a decision as the boss has ever made, in my opinion. Gilberto found himself on the bench as Flamini took his chance and kept his place in the side. But despite his obvious disappointment and hurt at the way things turned out he did nothing but keep his head down, work hard and give 100% for the club whenever needed. As a professional I sincerely hope that our younger players take their example from him rather than some of the other 'characters' in the squad. 

So he goes to Panathanaikos on a three year deal and I sincerely wish him all the best out there. He was a real professional and thoroughly decent man. Thanks for everything, Bert. You'll be remembered fondly.

His departure does leave a big hole in our midfield though but I suspect Gilberto's move was only sanctioned because the boss has something else lined up. As much as he might have high hopes for Denilson or Diaby there's no way we're going into next season with just those two, plus Cesc and possibly Song as back-up. I'm sure we'll make a signing for central midfield, I think it will be an experienced player and I suspect it'll probably be from an English side. There's talk of Barry or Xabi Alonso but who knows? There's definitely someone coming though.

Not much else to tell you about really. Barnet tomorrow should be good if only for the fact it's Arsenal and it's football.

If you can't get to Barnet and you fancy an Arsenal fix the London Masters is on at Wembley Arena. Ray Parlour leads the Arsenal side which also includes Steve Morrow and Vince Bartram, amongst others. Details here.

Right then, onto the Arsecast and this week I'm joined by Gilberto. Not Silva, but Silver from Gunnerblog, there's a player history with the Man in the Bar, a tale of the unexpected and I explain why there's no home shirt to give away in the competition.

To subscribe to the Arsecast in iTunes simply click here, the direct feed URL is 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.

Enjoy, see you tomorrow. 

Not too long ago a prominent Arsenal blogger said about Hleb's move to Barcelona:

As for Barcelona there has hardly been a word about him in the Spanish press for ages and given the money Barcelona have already spent this summer I'd say there's no chance of him going there now.

Now it seems that he is on his way to Catalunya and that old cunt at Arseblog has egg all over his Paddy face this morning ... oh.

Strange one really, I didn't think there was any prospect of him going there. Sport runs with a headline saying HLEB: SIGNED while El Mundo has even put a 'Best of Hleb' YouTube video on their homepage. The Spanish press reckon we've been paid €15m which could possibly rise to €18m if Hleb scores more than 3 goals a season so €15m it is.

I can't say I'm too unhappy. Hleb has always seemed like a fairly nice bloke and he is undoubtedly one of the most skillful players I've seen at Arsenal. His close control and ability to make space was truly outstanding at times. Ultimately though, a grand total of 11 10 goals in 3 seasons for a player who played wide and as a support striker is simply not good enough. He didn't make too many assists either. When he was good he was very good but too often he was just mediocre. His unwillingness to shoot was massively frustrating too.

The hints from his agent this summer that he would find it hard to maintain a level of performance at Arsenal should he not be allowed leave were out of order in my opinion and the player himself said:

I feel I can't keep squeezing enough out of myself to satisfy a team like Arsenal. As a professional I honestly told Wenger that at our two recent meetings.

Too much like hard work, it seems. But if he thinks there's pressure at Arsenal wait until he gets to Barcelona with the press and the fans who, this season in particular, are going to be so demanding that even Prince would be shocked.

For those that suggest the squad is weakened by his departure I give you Samir Nasri, a player with more of an eye for goal and from wide positions goals can win you trophies, as we've seen with Ronaldo and from our own point of view with Pires and Overmars down the years. €15m represents good business from a financial point of view as well.

It does leave Adebayor's potential transfer to Spain a bit up in the air though. Which probably won't suit him but then maybe he's about to learn that sometimes it's best just to keep your mouth firmly shut so you don't make yourself look like a cunt and make life rather awkward for yourself.

Another player who could be on the way out is Gilberto. The press have picked up a story that started on an Arsenal blog about him moving to Panathanaikos so credit this time to Arsenal Analysis who have been running it for the last couple of days. It'd probably be a good move for Gilberto, he'd get a longer contract and more Brazilian weather. Still, I'll be sad to see him go, he's always been a top class professional and a good example to some of today's more impatient and live-in-the-moment players. You just hope that if he is leaving then we've got somebody lined up to replace him because central-midfield will start looking a bit light otherwise.

The Sun uses a Bacary Sagna interview from a French newspaper to spread more doom and gloom. Can't see too much wrong with what he says myself.

So things are beginning to start moving in terms of transfer activity. Let's be honest about this, there hasn't been much doing for any club as of yet this summer so I'm not at all worried about our perceived lack of business. A few deals will happen and the rolling stone will start gathering some moss and it'll all be grand.

Right then, 5 pairs of tickets for the London Masters were up for grabs and the question was 'Under Arsene Wenger's reign only two players have scored on their league debuts. Who are they?'

The key word in the question there was 'league'. The vast majority of entrants got Freddie Ljungberg v Man United correct but a lot of people then thought Reyes v Chelsea or Gilberto v Liverpool in the Charity Shield was the right answer. They were wrong. The answer was Adebayor v Birmingham in Feb 2006. So there you go. The Random Number Generator did its thing and the winners of the tickets are:

Dan Merryweather, Mark Maynard, Richard Cain, Alex Williams and John O'Brien.

Well done to you, I'll be in touch this morning to get details from you and don't forget to check out the Masters football website for more information about the tournament - it could be your last chance to see a soon to retire Ray Parlour in an Arsenal shirt.

That'll be that then. More, including an Arsecast, 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.