Allow me to dust the cobwebs off this corner of the Interwebs and remind folks that, yes, I am still alive and kicking.  Sorry for the long absence, but let's face it: unless you were an American rooting for Team USA or a South African rooting for the Bafana Bafana, there's been very little to get excited about in the world of football.

All of the recent news regarding Arsenal have been of us extending or signing to new deals our current players.  Kieran Gibbs, Theo Walcott, Jack Wilshere, Aaron Ramsey and Robin Van Persie have each signed on the dotted line that will keep them at Ashburton Grove for the foreseeable future.  And while such dealings often will lack the kind of attraction that a new transfer purchase will bring, let's face it: it's a good sign.  By putting pen to paper, the club ensures that their hard work in developing talent doesn't just walk away after preparing and training said talent for the upper levels of club football.  It also provides a level of stability that says to any prospective transfer target that this is a club looking ahead towards titles and glory -- do you want to be a part?  

Of course, the transfer talk has surrounded our failed attempt at landing former Fiorentina midfielder Felipe Melo.  Thanks to a really solid Confederations Cup performance, Melo's name grew and grew.  Arsenal were the first club mentioned as interested, but I was not surprised when others entered into the equation.  The rumored offer from Arsenal was Philippe Senderos, Emmanuel Eboue and 5 million pounds.  Juventus threw Marco Marchionni along with 21 million euros and managed to outbid us. 

Say what you will about a player who last year went for 7 million euros now being valuated at more than three times that price -- and how that's a reflection of today's transfer market.  The fact is that he was a real target that seemed unwilling to leave Serie A for the Premiership and found a way to move up in terms of club and in terms of pay packet without really having to pack his bags.  

Where does that leave Arsenal?  Still looking for that central midfield partner for Cesc Fabregas.  The names bandied about include St. Etienne's Blaise Matuidi, Marseille's Lorik Cana, Atletico Madrid's Ever Vanega, Sporting's Miguel Veloso and, by the time summer is over, I'm sure that ten more names will surface.  Arsene Wenger has made landing that central midfielder a priority and it looks like he's not necessarily going to shop where we all think he is.  

The other piece of news centers around Real Madrid and Barcelona either being interested or not interested in Cesc Fabregas and Andrei Arshavin.  Both players have come out and said they are not interested in moving, but given the crazy cash thrown all over the market, it's no surprise the media is throwing their names about without care for facts or truth.  

The good news is that, with players reporting back to training this week, such rumors will likely pass.  

Maybe.

Isn't it nice when a transfer happens quietly and quickly?

By now you're likely to have seen that Arsenal have completed the transfer for central/left defender Thomas Vermaelen.  The Belgian was the current Ajax defender and comes with a good reputation.  And outside of Vermaelen or his agent mentioning to everyone under the sun that he was moving to Arsenal, no other word was heard about it for weeks.  Definitely not from the club, who didn't even deign to have Arsene Wenger come out and deny it like they usually do.  Maybe they felt that, in a summer where everyone is focusing on the goings on at Madrid and where David Villa, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Sergio Aguero, Samuel Eto'o, David Silva and so many other talented forwards and midfielders could all end up elsewhere, that no one would really be interested in where one defender went.

But as anyone who saw Arsenal last season can attest to, a quality back line is mandatory to mount any sort of assault on the various competitions available.  

The question arises though: who will Vermaelen partner in central defense?  And that's where debate will start.

William Gallas had about as poor a run as you can have in the first half of last season and still find yourself in a team.  It's a testament to how he turned his form around post-December that he was not tossed on his butt when the transfer window started.  Then there's Kolo Toure actually handed a transfer request back in January, as he was fed up with being dropped from the Starting XI in favor of Gallas.  Not to mention that Kolo's feelings for Billy Gallas lie somewhere between"dislike" and "drop him in a volcano."  Oh and Manchester City has been hot on his trail and could offer up a rather impressive transfer fee for his services if they so want him.  And finally we got Mickael Silvestre....Good bye and good luck in France.

Meanwhile, with his loan spell at Milan ended, Phil Senderos is back in town.  And while I think he still has room to grow and become a quality defender -- was it so long ago he was an anchor for both the Arsenal and Swiss National Team defenses?  -- it's unlikely we'll hang onto him with Vermaelen and Djourou capable of filling his role.  

The rumor mill has already begun spinning tales of Senderos (and even Eboue) as part of a a cash + player deal with Fiorentina with Brazilian midfielder Felipe Melo.  Take a look at Melo as he plays with the Brazilian NT during the Confederations Cup and tell me you wouldn't want him.  I'm actually in favor for it for all involved.  Fiorentina needs depth to battle in both Serie A and the Champions League.  Hopefully that deal can be completed by the end of the Confederations Cup and we can unveil Cesc's new midfield partner.

I just hope we don't hear about it until the unveiling.

Rather than starting with the Arsenal part of this story, let's start elsewhere.  Madrid to be exact.

By now, everyone knows of the sums spent and the players purchased by Florentino Perez as he appears deadset on continuing on his trend of bringing the biggest names in football to El Santiago Bernabeu.  

56 million pounds for Kaka' on Monday.  80 million pounds for Cristiano Ronaldo on Thursday.  136 million pounds.   That's a quarter of a billion dollars that was just spent to unite the reigning and former World Players of the Year under the white flag of Madrid.  

And the rumors are that this is just the beginning of a massive spending spree that could see them bring in coveted striker David Villa, the even more coveted winger Franck Ribery, right back Maicon and midfielder Xabi Alonso before the window closes in August.  

Oh and they're also apparently targeting Gael Clichy to take over the LB spot once ruled by Roberto Carlos.  Let me get back to that in just a second.

To no one's surprise, this seems to have kickstarted an arms race across the top clubs in Europe.   Barcelona -- not content to sit on a team that was scoring for fun last season -- are now supposedly after Zlatan Ibrahimovic or Karim Benzema along with Nemanja Vidic while Daniel Alves wants them to bring Robinho over.  Manchester United, flush with the millions from the sale of Ronaldo, are also after Ribery and are eyeing Benzema and are making a move to bring Antonio Valencia over from Wigan.  Chelsea have set their sights on Alexandre Pato and/or Sergio "El Kun" Aguero to partner with Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka and there's rumors of their interest in Andrea Pirlo and Yuri Zhirkov.  Meanwhile AC Milan, having lost Kaka and looking apparently set to lose Pato, Pirlo and even Gattuso, have already made signing Edin Dzeko their top priority and the rumor mill has them after various starlets across Europe.    

And that's just Week 1 of the transfer window.  

Now, let's get to the part where all of this furor applies to Arsenal.

Obviously, we are going to have players with targets on their backs from these big game hunters in designer suits.  As I said above, Gael Clichy is already a rumored target of Perez to help solve some of the left back issues Real has had (namely that Gabriel Heinze is done and Royston Drenthe looks like a lost puppy out there).  Most of me does not want to see that happen.  I like Gael and think he still can improve and become a world-class LB.  That said, if Real offer something in the 25M pound range...could you turn it down?

Meanwhile the annual "Barcelona is Coming for Cesc Fabregas" rumors have already started.  These are a bit more annoying and ridiculous.  One, Cesc shoots them down everytime and says his future is tied to Arsene's continued tenure with the club.  Two, this season will be his first as team captain for the entire year and he's not likely to walk away from that.  Three, he's likely looking to break into the Spanish Starting XI for next year's World Cup and that's not going to happen if he's riding the pine as a supersub for Barca while Xavi and Iniesta continue to rule the midfield there.

Regardless of the realities though, expect to hear many of our players as potential targets for other clubs now even more.  

The other way it applies is in the crazy fee department.  Now traditionally Arsene Wenger has not been one to splash the cash around Europe for his purchases.  I mean, he just broke his own transfer record in January for Andrei Arshavin -- and that was 15M pounds or 1/5 what Real just paid for Ronaldo!  

But as we saw when Chelsea started snapping up players for 25M quid each, there's a knock-on effect throughout the market.  Players who might be worth 5-7M are valuated at 10M.  A rising starlet could cost you between 10-14M quid.  And an actual star...well, you're now talking over 20M easily.   And making things worse is that if Real continue to splash such crazy money around, they're going to be flooding the market with cheap cash for teams to get into bidding wars over players.

I mean, are United and Valencia going to actually pay down their debts?  Why?  When what fans want are those new summer signings!

So does that mean we wont get into the transfer market?  Obviously not.  I just think that if Arsene was secretive before, then I expect him to become The Shadow now to get his deals done.  Don't expect to hear about our signings until they've passed their physicals and are at Emirates with their shirts in their hands.  I also think we should expect him to follow on what his stated plan is -- two or three impact signings.  Don't expect us to overhaul the team.  Not that it was needed, but the idea of buying 4 or 5 players in this market is unlikely.  I mean, there you're talking anywhere between 50 and 70 million pounds easily!

In this brave new world, when even clubs like Barcelona (which pride themselves on bringing up their stars through their ranks) are setting such lofty proclamations aside and getting into the dirty part of business, it's good to see that Arsenal are not one of the clubs desperately racing to hand millions it doesn't have to a player it might not need.  It's easy to fall in love with the new headline of a brand new player joining the club.  Who doesn't love the spotlight?

Just remember that there's always a flip side.   For every mega-signing, there's a player being tossed to the side whose arrival was once heralded as the answer to all the problems (see: Van der Vaart; Sneijder).  And that those players arrived for real money...money that most clubs cannot afford to just dole out like candy.

Real Madrid can miss on a 10M pound signing and not miss a beat.  Most clubs can't afford to be so reckless.   Or to say it simpler, Arsenal cannot afford to be that reckless.

So after much deliberation, I've finally discovered what's happened to Hull -- why they're diving through the PL table like Chinese Olympic divers. 

That realisation just came as I'm reading of new stories about how Cesc started abusing Hull's players on the pitch after the final whistle had blown.

I mean, think of that, a 21-year old kid in street clothes comes up to all these big, tough rugby-town players and begins verbally berating them, abusing them and hurting their feelings...

...and not one of them cold decks him.  No one so much as steps up to his face and tells him to shut the f--k up or he's going to get dropped.  Not a shove in anger nor a finger pointed in disgust.

Nothing.  The reaction from all these players as they are abused off the pitch and into the tunnel (until apparently the assistant manager decides he's the one who's had enough) is to meekly take it all in and saunter away in quiet shame.

And that's what gave me the big revelation.  

Hull's problem isn't Phil Brown or his tactics.  It's not the difficulty of the end-of-the-year matches.  

They just apparently have no balls and no pride.

So there you go, Hull.  There's your big problem.  You're welcome.  

Normally, I'd have a small blurb regarding last night's win in the quarterfinals of the FA Cup.  And most of it would have been to single out Andrei Arshavin for both his tenacity and his quality.  That shouldn't be forgotten in all the other nonsense.  In his few appearances this season and with the shortest preseason possible, Arshavin has shown his quality by picking Arsenal up and being the kind of wild-card threat that we had been sorely lacking.  My mouth just waters at the idea of an Arsenal attack featuring Arshavin, Nasri, Walcott, Adebayor, Van Persie and Fabregas.

....and speaking of Fabregas....

I guess I gotta get into the whole "Spit" drama...even though I find it all appallingly dumb.

DEPENDING ON WHO YOU BELIEVE, either Cesc spit on Hull's assistant manager Brian Horton or he didn't.  DEPENDING ON WHEN YOU GET PHIL BROWN TO TELL THE TALE, it either happened at the touchline when Cesc was congratulating his teammates or in the tunnel as everyone was leaving the pitch.  

The ironic thing is that, so far, the only people to have seen Cesc spit at Horton are Horton and Brown -- and not one of Hull's or Arsenal's players or staff nor any of the officials who oversaw that game.  And there isn't even any footage from any of the Setanta cameras that could have filmed either the event or its aftermath.  

Horton has gone to the League Managers Association with his complaint and they have deferred to the FA.  Meanwhile Mike Riley has submitted his match report to the FA with nary a word regarding this "incident."

And the response has been to bring back memories of a "spitting" incident between Cesc and Michael Ballack when he played for Bayern Munich, to compare Cesc to a Barca ultra and to point out once again how Arsene refuses to see any wrongdoing from his players.

For me, it just brought back memories of the reactions to Eduardo's injury last year and how it felt as if the entire English media closed rank around Martin Taylor.  It seems that, where the subject of Arsenal or its players, its managers or its fans are involved, the benefit of the doubt is not available.  And I gotta wonder why is that?    

Aren't you glad today is Monday?   I mean, besides the fact that you're probably back at work and had a weekend with no Arsenal?   A weekend that had you dress up nice and spend a few hours of your time doting on your significant other on Valentine's Day?

Look at it on the bright side, imagine if the game had been on Valentine's Day and you had been forced to snub your partner for the Arsenal?  Right now you'd be sleeping in a very tiny doghouse.

So always look on the bright side of life.  The lack of football meant you had to do something that'll probably buy you enough time to enjoy more football till...I'm guessing Easter?  Yeah, you'll have to visit the S.O.'s family for Easter brunch then.  And with your luck, they're probably all Chelsea fans.

So the game's in a few hours and the question is: who does Arsene start?  Eboue is suspended.  Adebayor is injured.  Arshavin cannot play.  Ramsey's a doubt after playing for Wales.  Diaby's back keeping Rosicky company.   And we got Sunderland at home this Saturday AND Roma on Tuesday in the return of the Champions League -- so Arsene has to juggle multiple competitions and line-ups starting now.

The smart money is on RVP (AKA "the whole f'ing show") being rested and the possible inclusion of Jack Wilshere and Amaury Bischoff into, at least, the subs' bench alongside Eduardo.  That'd mean we'd likely see the old Carling Cup strikeforce of Carlos Vela and Nicklas Bendtner.

Speaking of Bendtner, he came out today and spoke with the Daily Mirror with his usual shyness.

Oh wait...this is Bendtner.  Let's go with the exact opposite of shyness:

''I'm very sorry to see Adebayor injured as we need him fit and to be playing in the league, but it does not really matter to me who is fit and available.  I should start every game, I should be playing every minute of every match and always be in the team.''

Now look, I like confidence in my players, even if it's an abundance of it.  A player's belief in himself is paramount.  But Bendtner has netted 3 goals in 18 appearances for the club.  And on more than one game he has dissappeared or put in second-rate performances.  That doesn't mean I don't think he's talented.  Far from it.  I just think he should be aware that his ego's writting checks his output can't cash just yet.  In fact, I wonder if a healthy Eduardo wouldn't be ahead of him in the strike force pecking order.

One more thing before we go:  News has come out today that Red & White Holdings (the company owned by Alisher Usmanov and chaired by David Dein) has bought 1% more of the company and upped their ownership of the club to 25%.  This further cements him as the main shareholder -- with Danny Fizman in second place at 24.11% -- and inches him closer to the magic 29% line where he would be forced to table a bid for the club outright.

Personally, I wouldn't want that.  We have seen in clubs as far ranging as Chelsea, Liverpool, Portsmouth, Hearts of Midlothian and West Ham, the troubles that arise when a club's finances and future are tied to the financial position of a single owner entity.  Specially in today's economic times, when banks freeze credit, lendors can't lend and construction grinds to a halt, it isn't wise to risk the club's overall health and future by allowing anyone to just take it.

Sadly, that very health that can keep Arsenal afloat and competitive through tough economic times also makes it attractive to guys like Usmanov.  The fact is he needs the club far more than the club needs him.

After much deliberation, consternation, anger and veiled shots, Arsenal finally landed their man.  Andrei Arshavin -- he of the great UEFA Cup and Euro 08 runs -- is now a Gunner.  It only took 32 days and more words written about it than the Bible to see it done. 

I had guessed at the start of the window that we would be targetting a central midfielder (to replace Cesc), a central defender (because Kolo and Gallas didn't seem to be working together) and a winger (to provide a more attacking wide option).  Of course, I was wide off the mark.  

So let's just put that down to me being a complete idiot.  

Arshavin should provide immediate assistance on the attacking third and in helping to break down the 10-man wall defenses that have risen up around the Premier League.  You gotta expect that, at first, he'll slide into the right side of the pitch and keep us from seeing Eboue or Bendtner out there.  (Let's hope that puts each of those players back on the substitutes' bench on their respective spots).  Once Theo returns, we'll probably see Arshavin rotate around between midfield and a forward position.

One advantage we'll have is that he's already cup-tied for Europe.  This will mean he won't feature for our Champions League teams.  And that's probably a good thing.

I spoke earlier about the 10-man wall defenses that we've been facing in the last month or so.  Given that there's only 11 points separating 7th-place Wigan and last place West Brom and 14 games left in the season, it's only certain that we'll be seeing more and more of those walls between now and the end of May.  The difference of a single point earned now can mean millions and millions of Premier League pounds in teams' coffers.

And speaking about, the difference of a few points will mean the difference between the millions of Champions League football and the thousands of UEFA Cup/Europa League football.  I know that we look towards the FA Cup and Champions League to provide us with our best bets for silverware.  But our focus has to remain on the Premier League and the battle for fourth place. 

In a way, we're lucky that Chelsea appear to be ready to fall into the fourth place battle as I don't think Villa's lucky run will end anytime soon.  

In short, we have to prioritize finishing in the Top 4.  Sitting Robin Van Persie (our most consistent player) to play him against Cardiff in the FA Cup is the kind of decision we cannot afford. 

Sooooo....the transfer window has closed and the Andrei Arshavin transfer saga has ended in....

...we don't know.

In fact, trust nothing you hear until there's an official announcement.  

Why?  Because in the last few hours, the deal was off for certain and on for certain.  Arshavin was in London.  No, wait, he's in Paris....or maybe back in St. Petersburg.  The sticking point was the transfer fee -- or the bonus Zenit want back or Arshavin's wage demands.  

In other words, everyone is trying to figure out what's really what and between Arshavin's agent running to everyone with a microphone, Arsenal's traditionally quiet mouth and Zenit trying to avoid the stink of being labelled the next Lyon (i.e. the club that holds transfer deals out for ransom), this is all getting very confusing.

And the snowstorm that blanketed the U.K. isn't making anything easier.

So...as I said: trust nothing.  Wait until an official announcement is made tomorrow morning and then we'll know whether or not Andrei Arshavin is an Arsenal player.

Fingers crossed because as we saw over the weekend, we need an infusion of creativity in a bad way.

So, after 24 hours of hearing that the deal for Arshavin was finally done, guess what?  It's not.

Instead we're being told that the deal is still tangled because Arshavin and Arsenal have yet to agree on personal terms.  I wrote yesterday that it seemed odd that this would be the case since everyone was reporting that Arshavin and the Gunners had already reached a basic deal and all they were waiting on was Zenit's approval.

So what's the hold up?   Uh...I don't know, but here are some of the reported issues:

1. Who pays the fees of Arshavin's agent?  We're talking about a fee along the lines of 2 to 3.5 million pounds.   Zenit want that fee to be paid by Arsenal.  Arsenal have never paid an agent's fees and that's unlikely to change now.  They feel that's something the player should pay.  And Arshavin's agent only cares that he gets his fee paid.

 2. Arshavin is seeking a pay packet over 100,000 pound per week.  The highest paid players at Arsenal right now are Adebayor and Fabregas -- at 80,000 pounds per week.  The idea that any new player (nevermind one that's yet to prove himself in the Premier League) would receive such a pay packet from Arsene Wenger is laughable and brings to question Arshavin's "desire" to leave Zenit.

 3. Zenit are still holding for a fee close to their 20 million pound valuation.  Uh, that's a deal breaker.

At this point (Tuesday night), I think that unless a miracle happens, this deal will not go through.  And part of me is disappointed -- as someone over at the WSD boards mentioned, imagine a midfield of Nasri, Cesc, Rosicky and Arshavin.  Then again, part of me just wants a resolution.

If Arsenal want to kill this deal and go looking elsewhere I understand.  

BTW, tomorrow's game pits us against Everton.  And don't look so surprised but we're only 9 points off the lead and 6 behind Liverpool and Chelsea.  In short, while I think a title challenge is still too far away, the Top 4 finish that we need isn't.  Tomorrow's game is paramount to that end.  And the last few days in the transfer window should bring some help.  

We always leave it late in the transfer window and we've been leaving it late in the league so far this season.  I can see both trends continuing.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/arsenal/article5594933.ece

From all indications it appears so.  The long-protracted transfer saga of one Andrei Arshavin appears to have finally come to a conclusion as Arsenal appear to have landed their man.  

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24969029-2883,00.html

This article says the amount is AU$35 million (or approximately17 million pounds)...

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/transfers/arsenal-at-last-close-in-on-record-deal-for-arshavin-1516908.html

...which this article seems to confirm.  In short, that'd be Arsenal's transfer record purchase.

Now one small bit of pause: all the articles imply that terms have yet to be reached between Arshavin and the Gunners.  

But weren't they saying that Arshavin had already reached terms and that the hold up was Zenit's constant consideration of the transfer fee?

Fingers crossed this is finally reached its conclusion...and the club can go buy a defensive midfielder.  Hey, Bolton are tabling a 13M quid bid for Miguel Veloso!  Can we go find some loose change to challenge them?

*The quote is from the Matrix movies.  Right after Agent Smith's finally turned Neo into another one of his clones, he asks whether the battle is finished...right before all the Matrix explodes.  Here's hoping the same doesn't happen here.