So it’s another day and another new signing to not get too excited about. We’re at T-minus four days until our season starts and it’s the third day since we saw Gabriel’s injury. And there’s only been a sniff of ‘Arsenal are thinking-about-asking-about-maybe-there-might-be-an-outside-chance-of-bidding-for’ a defender who other teams even seem to be pulling out of the race of. So lads (and lasses), we might be in with a chance of buying Mustafi if the football club elevates its transfer activity from ‘thinking’ to ‘doing’. Wouldn’t that be a grand thing. 

Problem is though, even if we turn up the heat on our transfer dial from a warm orange glow to a red hot heat, I still don’t think we’ll see somebody parachuting in for Sunday. It’d be the same amount of gamble as having one of the young lads – who have been playing with the team all summer and have had a chance to build a rapport with teammates – so regardless of what Arsène, Ivan and Dick do in the next 48 hours, I think we’ve left ourselves with too much to do before the Liverpool game.

Still, we’ve gotten pretty adept at ballsing up the opening game of the season anyway, so why change now? I’ve seen three goals in five games for Arsenal since I first got my season ticket at The Emirates, so perhaps I should temper any expectation, especially as the club’s infographic claims that Arsenal have never won the league having lost the opening game. Yep, that’ll do it, in terms of dampening my expectation even further. Sigh.

Still, I’m trying not to hit DEFCON2 as some goners are, which is what I call going absolutely apoplectic whenever any of the other top sides sign any player for a half-decent fee. Truth is, I’d be raising my eyebrows if we’d have managed to swoop in and steal Stones for £50million. Then, as an Arsenal fan conditioned by the club on frugality, I’d probably start to worry that there’d be no more money that would be made available for another one of those signings at that money. You’ve got to hand it to the manager and Ivan, they’ve been so consistent at crying poverty, that even some fans believe it. Despite what the financial accounts and analysis of professionals like Swiss Ramble prove to the contrary. I have read his stuff, as well as the stuff of others, so I know we have a lot of cash to spend if we want to, yet I still have to check myself in my own mind sometimes, especially when I see things like the Stones deal and say to myself that we couldn’t afford him, plus a wide man or a forward. Wake up Christopher…

Whether or not Stones is actually worth that money will be subject to discussion all season I think. Right now the media are spending their time telling us that in Pep Guardiola he has a man who will Pique him up nicely for England, then we can all dance around effergies of the Spaniard once England has a world-class Rio Ferdinand in six weeks time. Personally, I saw erratic elements to Stones’ game last season that would have me a little worried if we’d just signed him. Perhaps he’s a rough diamond like Cristano Ronaldo was when he first arrived at Old Trafford, but we’ve got enough rough diamonds in our squad at the back, we need some of those flawless cut beauties right now.

Who knows, maybe something will happen today? I have my Arsenal socks on this morning, so hopefully I can send a message to the club through my choice of foot envelope? From under my desk. In central London. With no actual way of communicating with the club. You never know!

Oh blimey, what I wouldn’t give for our game to be a day earlier, so the football season could be over and I can finally banish any memories of this transfer window and the summer football off season. 

Arsène was interviewed as I have been writing this on the train in to work, which you can read transcripts of here, but having had a flick through there doesn’t seem to be anything out of the ordinary to talk about. He talks about how we are active, about the inflation of the market and how English clubs are having to pay a premium on players. Maybe Arsène, but no English involvement was there when Higuain joined Juge from Napoli, was there? I know it’s a bit of spin and I know he has to do it, but when you’ve heard it all so many times before, it starts to grate on you, you know?

Damn, I just want this flipping season to start, so I can have something else to moan about…. 😉

Catch y’all tomorrow.