Howdy folks, how we feeling this Tuesday, eh? Good?

I gotta tell you, I’m feeling a little nervous about this whole Emile Smith Rowe situation. All of the journos on the Arsenal beat have been pretty clear that they think that ESR is happy, wants to stay at the club, will sign a new deal. But Aston Villa have not gone away and over the weekend there was talk of this additional £32.5million bid they were making.

My first thought is that if Arsenal were waving away £30million, why on earth would they suddenly sit up and take notice for an additional £2.5million added on to the fee? But then I think about why Villa would keep coming back and it plants a nagging seed in my head:

What if the reason they were so insistent is because the players camp are given them the eyes? What if we suddenly hear that Emile Smith Rowe has rejected a new deal?

That last question is the big one that is nagging. Up until this point I have wondered whether there is no smoke without fire, but the noises from those Arsenal-focused journos has been that it should get done. So I’ve trusted in those journos because the decent ones are all singing from the same hymn sheet and they all work hard on information and feedback from the club and agents before they bother putting anything in to print. But until the ‘da ting’ is ‘signed’, it feels like anything could happen.

And if a rejection of an Arsenal contract comes out, will Arsenal suddenly blink? Or will it just be seen as part of the game and Arsenal just remain calm and go back to ESR’s “people” with an improved offer?

This is why I hate the transfer window. Speculation and counter speculation, conjecture and nonsense noise for about three-and-a-half months. And with no football – not even the Euro’s – we find ourselves focusing on on these stories more acutely than we have been all summer so far.

I can’t wait until August and the start of the league and some actual football, so we can get away from all the transfer tittle-tattle. But unfortunately it’s going to get worse because as soon as the Euro’s are finished at the weekend, all the ITKs will emerge from under their rocks and kick it up a gear in terms of their false stories. It’s all been kept relatively quiet because of the Euro’s up until this point, but I think most of us normal football folk know that there’s a storm a’cumin.

As for the other noises taking place, it appears the Guendouzi to Marseille deal is all but done, with him putting a message of thanks to Arsenal on one of his social media feeds. £10millon next summer, done, let’s move on and I have little else to say about that guy.

That news in itself wasn’t really new, but did you see the stuff about Alex Runnarsson? Apparently he’s wanted in Turkey and if that goes through then it closes the chapter on a pretty disastrous signing for Arsenal. The only up side will be that we won’t lose out much of the value on him, having only paid a million for his services, so if Arsenal get any kind of fee you’d probably just say ‘fair enough’ and move him on. But not before you’ve told Inaki Cana that he’s not allowed to make any more goalkeeping recommendations to the club. Stick to coaching the ‘keepers mate.

The other bit of news I read over the last couple of days was how Eddie has rejected a contract extension. Good for him. Good for us too actually. A one year deal seems like it makes sense for Arsenal but we’d just be kicking the can down the road so let’s see if we can cash in. We won’t get too dollar for him but they’ll be English clubs willing to pay and if they low ball Arsenal we should just tell them that there’s a hefty sell on fee if they’re offering us a low transfer. I read talk of £12million and whilst I know that nobody has money in the market right now, if that’s what’s on offer I’d probably take it, but do it with a 30-50% sell on clause so you can get some cash further along the line. Easier said than done I know, but there will be a market for him and if there are multiple sides interested (apparently Leverkusen and a few English clubs) then we at least have some bargaining power in negotiations.

Matt Smith has joined Doncaster, but that’s relatively low-key and it remains to be seen whether he ever gets close to the first team. He’s 21 in October and if he was going to break through to the first team you’d have expected it to happen by now, so this deal strikes me as one I. Which Arsenal are ‘fattening’ his price up for a sale. Makes sense for all involved so good luck to him and let’s hope he has a stormer.

Right, that’s yer lot for today, as I’m off to Edinburgh for an overnight stay with The Management. Have a good one and I’ll catch thee in the morrow.

Laters peeps.