Morning folks. Just 24 hours before we head in to our ongoing European adventure and I’m really looking forward to the game. That’s because the team feels like it’s got a bit of cohesion about it and although we played away against the Tiny Totts last weekend, that game probably needs to be taken in isolation due to the nature of the rivalry, where as this is a tough away game that will once again show us whether this team has stepped up a gear as we count down to the end of the season.

But of course with every day we get closer to the end of the season we also get closer to the dreaded opening of the transfer window and the ongoing speculation that will surround some of our players.

What I find sad at the moment is that a club with so much financial resource has supposedly been reduced to telling everyone that we’re paupers, which suddenly has us Arsenal fans talking about what assets we could sell to help fund a rebuild job.

Unfortunately we don’t have too many overrated Coutinho-types that we can palm of for ten times their actual market value so what I’ve seen in recent weeks is questions over whether we should sell Lacazette, Aubameyang, Guendouzi, or the latest over the last 24 hours is Kolasinac, with Gazidis supposedly interested at AC Milan.

Why on earth are we having these discussions? Are we as a fan base so bought in to the idea of self-imposed austerity that we’re even signing up to this idea that any saleable asset needs to be cashed in on?

Not me guv. I want us to keep players like Auba, Laca, Guendouzi and Kolasinac, unless of course crazy money – Coutinhoesque levels – gets offered to the club. That I think everyone would accept and given the rebuild Liverpool were able to do it feels like it makes sense. So whilst Kolasinac is a good player who I like and think should remain at the club, if AC Milan came in and offered £50million for him, for example, then I think it’d be a sensible move.

But what I’m saying is that what we don’t want to be seen to be doing is having a fire sale because we want to generate cash. Teams will see right through it and we’ll be back where we have been in terms of not getting market value for players. Let’s have a better strategy for our incomings and outgoings.

Of course I have little inside intel and that could be exactly what the club are doing. They could be putting on a front of telling the world that most players aren’t for sale and hopefully this summer any players that do leave the club for cash are sold at the kind of premiums we need to get the first team moving forward. I think we can all agree that any more Szczesny style sales should not be tolerated in any way, shape or form. That’s why Raoul has been brought in so let’s hope that he – and hopefully Monchi if he comes in – will have a better plan than the Gazidis/Wenger axis that was so inefficient.

That’s about all I’ve got for today. We’ll get some thoughts from Emery plus one today so hopefully it’s a good one and he is in fine form after a few good performances.

Catch you tomorrow.