Arsenal: spirit, no points; also no arrivals - coincidence?

Loic Remy scored on his debut. He was on our radar. Sturridge is scoring for fun at Liverpool after an early January transfer. But Arsenal's powder remains dry on the transfer front. We're boxing clever. Or are we? It's a false economy if we keep losing points to save a few quid by waiting until the last minute to bring in reinforcements. Surely Wenger realises that! I'm so disappointed. I'm pleased we've sign Theo Walcott at long last. But why does it take this long to sign a player who wants to stay? Only insiders can answer that, but you can't help but feel that something is wrong behind the scenes. Meanwhile, PSG are interested in Wenger, according to the Mirror. Ha ha! They ruin the story by saying we'll get Ancelotti in a part-exchange deal. A manager swap deal! I've never heard of it, but maybe it'll happen one day. But at Arsenal? We can't even sign players, let alone managers!

No more snowmen at Arsenal please!

So here we are. The day of reckoning on the transfer front has arrived. 

The Theo Walcott transfer saga has continued despite the best efforts of Arsene Wenger to put the matter to bed. If he really wants to do that, he needs to tuck Theo up with a teddy bear stuffed with a £100k-per-week wage packet plus a hefty signing-on fee plugging up his hot water bottle.

If Wenger doesn't and just insists that Theo should stay a good boy and remain in bed, the diminutive winger could end up getting whisked off somewhere like that kid does in 'The Snowman'. For some strange reason, it's quite easy to imagine Theo singing 'We're Walking In The Air'. The next line would surely be, 'I'm flying down the wing'. 

But if Wenger is serious about Theo staying, he should make sure he's flying down the centre. That's where Theo wants to play and Wenger always says he sees the England international as a striker, eventually. Well, after no goals scored in our first two games, now would be a good time to start trying him out there. The future starts here! 

Apparently, Wenger spoke to Theo personally, after the 0-0 draw against Stoke, and Le Boss was expecting to have to deal with a petulant over-age teenager, sulking about being dropped. But as I've said before, Theo's attitude is refreshing. Although, Theo's chin was touching the floor, apparently, due to his disappointment at being dropped, he still professed his love of the club and Wenger was pleasantly surprised to hear that he wants to stay. However, it still seems a tad risky not to sell Theo, if he's still refusing to put pen to paper on a new deal.

Although some reports suggest a short-term deal has been agreed, I find this hard to believe as no specific details have been revealed. And even if it's been agreed, it doesn't mean it's been signed. Unless you get the deal signed, then you can't rely on a gentleman's agreement protecting your interests. Remember when chairman Peter Hill-Wood said he had a gentleman's agreement with Barcelona over Cesc Fabregas. Next thing you know, the Spanish version of 'The Snowman' whisked one of our 'kids' off into the Catalonian night.

Please Arsene, we don't need another performance of 'The Snowman'. Once in Spanish was enough.

Meanwhile, we now know our opponents in the Champions League: Schalke, Olympiakos and Montpellier. None sound that easy to me. Schalke have lost the ageing Raul, but still have Klass Jan Huntelaar to worry us. Olympiakos are never easy to play against, but if their Drama-born superstar, Ioannis Fetfatzidis, is that theatrical maybe he'll get sent off or something. Or perhaps he'll win a penalty, which would be worrying, if it were against us. Then there's Montpellier, Olivier Giroud's old club. I wished we'd signed their number 10, Younes Belhanda, as well as that would make them even weaker.

I'd been hoping for Malaga, Anderlecht and Braga, so Group B is much more difficult than I was hoping for. Strangely, I predicted we'd play Schalke and Olympiakos. It was just a guess. I didn't have any inside knowledge. Honest!

Back to the transfer front, for a moment: there are strong rumours that we're about to sign Dentinho for 8.5m euros. He sounds like a Brazilian chewing gum to me, but I know we've been linked with him before. His agent is Ben Thorne, who represents three Chelsea players: David Luiz, Oscar and Lucas Piazon. So perhaps Dentinho will join Chelsea instead.

TalkSport have re-ignited rumours that we're about to sign Gregory van der Wiel from Ajax. I hope not, as I wasn't impressed with his performances for Holland at the Euros. Arsenal's chief negotiator (AKA a man with importance but without a job title), Richard Law, wouldn't confirm or deny this rumour.

I don't really believe TalkSport much these days, but they're sure to get something right. They claim Arsenal are chasing 6 players: 1) Yohan Cabaye (yes, Arsene, please get him, even though it was me that started this story, just like Olivier Giroud!), 2) Etienne Capoue (Toulouse), 3) Yann M'Vila (Rennes), 4) Cheikhon Kouyate (Anderlecht defender),  5) Fernando Llorente (Athletic Bilbao), and 6) Milo (Haras El Hodood). I'll take a number one and a number five please!

The Daily Mail claim we have asked Chelsea if we can have Michael Essien on loan, which is a bit like getting Yossi Benayoun from them last year. Who would have predicted that? Not me! Other sources say we're trying to get Daniel Sturridge on loan too. Why stop there? Why don't we try to sign the entire Chelsea reserve team? They would rather sell Sturridge for £15m, so I guess we can forget about that happening.

One semi-confirmed signing is a new goalkeeper. But don't get too excited. He's 17. He's Macedonian and his name is Dejan Iliev. Apparently, he's joined our youth set up from FK Belasica. Great! Maybe he'll be pushing for a first-team place by 2020!

Hotting up on the transfer front for Arsenal?

You don't need me to tell you it's the hottest day of the year today, and that serves as a tenuous link to the transfer market.

The first website I visited this morning was thisisfutbol.com. The headline that attracted my attention was to do was a 19-year-old English sensation, who could be moving to Arsenal according to the Daily Mail. The teenager they were talking about with Birmingham City's Jack Butland. This England under 21 goalkeeper could be a good backup for Woijciech Szczeny, it's true. However, there is a school of thought that believes the number two should be a more experienced keeper than the current custodian between the sticks.

 That's why the likes of Craig Gordon is also being linked to the club. As a free agent, Gordon would make an excellent signing; however, it is hard to imagine him settling for a place on the bench. Brad Guzan of Aston Villa could be another kettle of fish! That's my tip for Arsene Wenger anyway, and I'm sticking to it.

Talking of tips, one player I can see us making a move for is Solomon Kalou, who could be leaving Chelsea on a free transfer. We have considered signing the player in the past, so now that he is available on a free transfer it is very easy to imagine the striker moving across London to join us. Let's never forget that Sol Campbell did exactly the same thing, although instead of joining us from Chelsea, he of course joined us from Spurs. However, now that Chelsea have won the Champions League perhaps Kalou will want to remain where he is. But the flipside of that is the uncertainty surrounding the managerial situation at Stamford Bridge. That can't be good the team morale at all. The departure of Didier Drogba could signal the beginning of the end of this current Chelsea team.

I suspect there will be some major squad rebuilding at Stamford Bridge this summer and the club are already active on the transfer front bidding £32million for Lucas Moura. The 19-year-old São Paulo winger will not be leaving for that price according to the Daily Mirror, as the Brazilian club are hoping for a bidding war. That may well ensue given the reported interest from Inter Milan and Real Madrid. If Chelsea to win the race for Moura’s services, it could mean the departure of Daniel Sturridge and, according to Setanta, Arsenal are interested. It's hard to imagine that deal actually happening though.

It is also difficult to imagine the club winning the race for Eden Hazard, who has the choice of joining Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea or a mystery club. While it's true, that we may be the mystery club it is difficult to conceive Arsenal paying £32 million for the 21-year-old playmaker. According to the player's agent, John Bico, who is quoted in the Daily Star we will have to wait until after Belgium's match against England at Wembley on June 2^nd to find out. On the plus side, at least it will make that friendly international little bit more interesting from an Arsenal point of view.

A little bit closer to home, ClubCall are linking Arsenal with a £3million move for Wales international Joe Allen. Of course, Swansea City have some excellent players as we discovered last season when we visited the Liberty Stadium. However, if I remember correctly Danny Graham and Scott Sinclair caused a lot of problems for our team and that's why they would be the players I would be looking at buying. Stephen Dobbie was also a handful. Apparently, we are also interested in Michael Vorm, the Holland international goalkeeper, and Iceland international midfielder Glyfi Sigurdsson. He was on loan at Swansea last season from 1899 Hoffenheim, so it will be no surprise if he does indeed move on this summer. However, I'll be most surprised if we see any of the above - apart from Kalou - in an Arsenal shirt next season.