So it appears as though Nuno Tavares is on the verge of a temporary exit from the Arsenal to Marseille this summer, if the pretty credible reports are to be believed. This is an interesting one I have to say. I know Tavares had his errors last season, I know that we all pretty much acknowledge that he was pretty ‘raw’ in terms of being ready to perform week-in, week-out for The Arsenal, but I have to say I do think there is plenty in there for him to be a player that could perform well for us in future.

I guess that’s why the club appear to be extremely reluctant to include any ‘option’ or ‘obligation’ to buy in the deal that appears to being struck. The club obviously feel that there is a player in there that could potentially have his value unlocked and, who knows, a season of regular football might be exactly what Tavares needs to kick on to the next level. We have cover in that position, so we are ok from a bodies perspective, plus we know that we have time on our side from a contractual perspective too. I believe he signed a five year deal with us last summer and so at the end of this coming season he’ll have three years left, so a loan deal now makes the world of sense. Even if we don’t decide to keep him, providing he plays well in France, then we’ll have inflated his value and there should be other mainland Europe )+(or maybe even Premier League) suitors who would be prepared to pay a decent buck, as the folks in the US might say.

As I say, however, I’ve always thought there was something in there with this player. If it is true that Marseille is his destination, I hope that Arsenal have had some friendly but firm words with Marseille about William Saliba. Something along the lines of “we’ll give you Nuno for a season, but will you shut the f*ck up briefing to the press about the desire to take Saliba back. It’s starting to piss us off” would probably be about right I reckon. We’ve already heard over the last week that Saliba’s agent had dinner with the Marseille owner this week and I’m sure Frank McCourt had a lovely ol’ dinner in London, because we’ve got some fine eateries. But this courting needs to stop now. We need to get Big Willy integrated in to our first team and we need to get him playing more regularly because he has looked good this pre season and Arsenal fans are getting excited to see what he can do in the Premier League.

He may well get that chance depending on what happens this weekend. Tomorrow we have Sevilla at The Emirates and I am more and more convinced that the starting XI tomorrow will be the starting XI against Palace just six days later and if Saliba is in it, I think he will start next weekend too. If I was to hazard a guess I’d say that White and Saliba both play with White at right back, which I am a-ok with. Maybe Tomiyasu gets some second half minutes but it feels to me like the team for next week should be coming close to decided and my hope is that it is very similar to the one that played against Chelsea. Let’s wait and see and I’ll do some match thoughts tomorrow.

In the meantime, all eyes are turning towards a potential pink kit launch today. Supposedly we’re going to debut it tomorrow but given nothing is released yet I guess we don’t want to believe anything until it’s on the official site. I’ve seen the leaked pictures, I’ve looked at all of the kit designs and I’m going to admit something to you, I like it a lot. I think I’m actually going to buy all three kits this year; I have NEVER done that in my life. Like some sort of crazed and obsessive teenager, I’m going all in to get all three kits. A grown man. But dammit, Adidas have just done a fine thing again this season with the look and feel of all of the kits. I loved the yellow one last season, I love the red one this season (although didn’t bother with last season’s red one), I also love the black and the pink kits, so I’m all in for it. Call me a fanboy, I don’t care, but I’m down for each of those kits this season.

But enough about rambling about that kind of stuff. I have a busy day ahead of me so I’ll probably leave it there for now. I know there is a lot of stuff going on right now with a specific player and a situation that is extremely unpleasant. But it feels wrong to comment on anything right now and I am not comfortable – at this particular moment in time for reasons I won’t disclose on here – talking about this particular topic. If it ever goes through the appropriate legal proceedings and the truth comes out through official channels and not via social media platforms, then we can chat again, but for now I’m going to put a halt to talking about a specific Arsenal player – or any players – and their off field incidents.

Catch you wonderful people tomorrow.