You will know by now that we have made our first first-team signing of the summer, and at 10 million euros, you would have to say he will probably be a starter next term. That of course leaves the question, who will partner him. Gallas is probably our best center back and if he was to leave we would definitely need a replacement, Toure just isnt as good as him and it saddens me to say it, but is in decline. If we got a big offer from El Arabi City I would bite their hand off and use the money towards a better defender with experience.

I don’t think our defensive options now will remain the same for the start of the season, one would expect Silvestre to be long gone by then *please God, please get rid of this hapless monstrosity* and the rest of the summer is going to be very interesting indeed. Another move probably isnt expected in the immediate future because that isnt really Wenger’s style, but as shown with this and Arshavin’s transfers recently, he is willing to break out of his own style.

I’m looking forward to seeing the state of the squad on the first couple of days in September.

One interesting point that has come to my attention is that Vermaelen’s position is left of center in the defence, which is of course Gallas’s preferred position. Could it mean Gallas is on his way out? If that was the case I wouldn’t consider Arsene’s defensive work on the team as actually diminishing the quality we have, and we don’t have that much quality anyway. Wenger’s work is still far from done.

Yohan Cabaye, the Lille midfielder is linked – The chances of that happening are 1084586y3946532044365-9365-9345-1

Right, thats all today.

More tomorrow, might be later than usual again.

‘Arsenal Football Club is delighted to announce that Belgian international defender Thomas Vermaelen has joined the Gunners from Dutch Eredivisie side Ajax on a long-term contract for an undisclosed fee.’

Arsene Wenger said:

“Thomas is a great signing for Arsenal Football Club, and we are all delighted that he is joining us. Thomas is a solid performer with good experience of Champions League and UEFA Cup football and is also a regular with the Belgium national team.

Thomas is primarily a left-footed centre back, but he’s multi-functional and can also play at left back. He is strong technically with a positive winner’s attitude and I have no doubt his arrival will strengthen our team. Thomas Vermaelen will be a huge asset to Arsenal.”

Thomas himself has said:

“Firstly, I have to say that I’m sad to be leaving Ajax and I would just like to thank everyone for their help and friendship towards me over the past eight years.

“I’m just so happy to be joining Arsenal. This is a great Club with a world class manager, high quality players and a fantastic stadium. Everything is set up for Arsenal to be very successful for years to come and I joined this Club because I know Arsenal will be challenging for trophies.

“I have had a good taste of the Champions League during my time with Ajax and this is something I am looking forward to experiencing again with Arsenal. I’m also looking forward to playing in the English Premier League, which for me, is the best league in the world. Also, I just want to assure the Arsenal fans that I will give everything for this Club and I hope we can enjoy winning some trophies together next season.”

Welcome to Arsenal, Thomas.

Oh, and for the record, he is 6ft.

More tomorrow, but later than usual.

ARSENAL ARE SIGNING VERMAELEN!!!

ARSENAL ARE SIGNING MELO!!!!

ARSENAL ARE SIGNING CHAMAKH!!!!

ARSENAL ARE SIGNING BASSONG!!!

ARSENAL ARE SIGNING YAYA TOURE!!!

ARSENAL ARE SIGNING LESCOTT!!!

ARSENAL ARE SIGNING KING MOHAMMAD EL FADJ III!!!!

I. am. fucking. fed. up. of. it. all.

We get linked with so many players it does really beggar belief, is there another team that has to put up with the same amount of speculation us Gooners do? What really staggars me is how we are linked with players valued at 2-3 million and then the next day linked with a player like Yaya Toure or Melo, valued in the 15-20 million quid bracket.

I think we will probably be linked with about 100 players before the transfer window shuts at the start of September. It really wouldn’t suprise me at all.

The excitement of signing a new player has all but evaporated recently, the Arshavin transfer took over a month, Nasri’s deal likewise. Gone are the days where you wake up in the morning to see:

The Eduardo signing was the last time I was genuinely excited about a new arrival… Of course with the arrival of Arshavin in January I was delighted and couldnt wait to see him play, but the edge was taken off the occasion and a feeling of relief was more apparent. Just reading through the early articles about Eduardo brings that feeling of exitement back, next season he may just be like a new signing for us along with (hopefully), Thomas Rosicky.

That brings us to the seemingly imminent arrival of defender Thomas Vermaelen for a hefty 10-11 million pounds, a Wenger record for a defensive player. It seems that he is going to fly in, undergo a medical to check he is not made of glass and then the move will be announced on Arsenal.con

He seems enthusiastic, declaring the day the ‘best of my life’ and how he ‘will give everything my body has’, he seems to have his brain in order and is genuinely feeling privilaged to be signing for a club like Arsenal.

So on this dead boring Friday if you are looking to escape the boredom of yet another football free day, spend your time endlessly refreshing Newsnow and Arsenal.com in the vague, vague hope of an Arsenal signing.

Its not like it would be unexpected but at least it would give us something to write about and it really would signal the start of the Arsenal summer.

So thats it….really. Theo won again last night after being dropped to the bench. Quite why he was picked in the squad to be left on the bench for Frazer Campbell is only a question Stuart Pearce can answer but hey, ho. He had better return in one piece.

More tomorrow.