So the latest rumour – albeit a spurious few I saw on Twitter I have to say – relating to the Arsenal and our set up for next season appears to be in the form of Lyon, with the French club supposedly interested in Koscielny, whilst we should have an eye on Nabil Fekir, who their chairman Aulas has already said he’s promised could leave this summer.

Now this transfer interests me for a number of reasons, mainly because it ticks a lot of boxes and so whilst there hasn’t been too many journo’s going big with it (just a few people i’ve seen on Twitter), I hope it’s one that can be pulled off.

Firstly, we don’t have a lot of cash and have players we probably need to offload this summer in order to balance the books. Whilst Koscielny isn’t the first name I’d necessarily have on my list, at 33 going on 34 (in September) and with an inability to string together a whole season of games given his injury problems, if it means we can drop the final price we pay on a player like Fekir then it makes a lot of sense financially for a team working with a meagre budget.

Koscielny would probably fancy a move back to a team like Lyon too and there have been some rumours of him wanting to return to France for some time. Even at the end of last season he spoke about thinking about it but stuck around, although I suspect that’s more because of his injury problems, than anything else. If Lyon are genuinely interested and they have a player in Fekir who they also want to cash in on that could work.

At this point it’s probably worth pointing out I have no intel, am just playing guesswork, but it just feels like there could be something there if Arsenal act quickly.

Supposedly Arsenal are reluctant to sell Koscielny and are even looking at a contract extension beyond next season but personally I’m not 100% convinced on that one. It doesn’t give the club a strong bargaining chip if they basically tell the footballing world that they’re happy to let go so they’ll be briefing journalists about this ‘new deal’ but I’d be surprised if it actually happened. A parting of the ways would work well for all parties methinks. Kos goes as a great servant to the club, loved by the fans, and a great parting gift would be to help move along a transfer for another good player coming in.

On Fekir’s side I guess that’s what Arsenal have to assess in terms of whether he wants the move. Right now we’re a second-tier club and although he’d no doubt relish the opportunity to play in the Premier League and also he’d be joining a club who got to the final of a European cup last season, it’s not the Champions League which a player like Fekir would probably prefer to go to. Arsenal will pay him well but will that be enough to tempt him. I guess that is what is happening at the moment – tentative discussions – because the club will probably be having tentative discussions with the player before bothering to talk to Lyon.

He’s a player that would no doubt improve us. 12 goals and nine assists last season in 39 games in all competitions, was named captain in a load of the games, is a creative spark centrally and certainly if you’re looking for a name to excite fans with Ramsey disappearing off to Italy, this would fit the bill. He’s a central player normally though so I guess it would 100% spell the end of Oil’s future at the club but with Arsenal needing more reliance on goals and assists from other than the front two, this transfer would make sense.

It would also partner Fekir back up with Lacazette, the pair of whom both established a good relationship at Lyon when our current number nine was at the club.

Yep, this one makes a lot of sense, providing of course that we don’t get gazumped by a team like Liverpool. Lace face it they have more cash than us, are a more attractive proposition at this moment in time, plus have a manager who has built a reputation as one players want to play for and a team that has just won the Champions League. Fekir may not be a regular there but he’s the sort of player who will feel he can force his way in so if Liverpool are calling, we may just miss out. But they were hot for him last summer so it would be silly to think there is no chance they’d be interested in the player now.

But my hope is that he is closer to Arsenal than Liverpool at this moment in time. He’d be a good signing and whilst some believe the Carrasco signing is being put on hold because of Fekir, I’d hope the club are looking at both because they play in two different positions and would be two great players to add to our team for the new season. Something needs to be done about rebalancing the team and those two would add creativity going forward, something we sorely lacked at times last season.

Right, that’s it for me for one day, so maybe i’ll catch you all tomorrow.