Looks as though the Matt Turner to Forest deal will be going through sooner rather than later and, with us playing them on Saturday lunchtime, it’d be weird if it happened sooner and he plays in between the sticks at the Emirates for the away team, eh?

I’ve just had a look at the Forest squad at the moment and in goal it looks like they have a guy from Luton that has joined, as well as Wayne Hennessey in goal as their current options, so you can see why they’ve been after turner and Henderson from United. It has been speculated that Turner would be back up and if that’s the case then you have to feel for Matty; reserve for The Arsenal and in the Champions League, or back up for a side who will be mid table probably at best this season, doesn’t exactly seem like a step forward. Now, if Forest bring him in and decide not to go for Henderson then it’s a great move for Turner, but the noises are that they still want Henderson and so we’ll have to see how it plays out.

Regardless of that, I hope they don’t get any deals done before the Friday deadline, because it would be just our luck that a deal gets done and then he comes in and has the game of his life against us on Saturday lunchtime. No, come on Arsenal, tell Forest the fax machine is on the fritz or something; just string it out until Friday afternoon and then we can release him.

He’s been with us a year, looked a decent enough ‘keeper, but this shows a ruthlessness from Arteta that we all know exists. I still can’t see Ramsdale and Raya working out for more than a season, but it does mean the drop off between the two is a lot less marked than Turner from last season – and I didn’t think Turner did too much wrong to be fair.

Supposedly we signed him for just over €6million (about £5million I think), he’s been back up for a year, we’re selling for £7million plus an additional £3million in add ons and when you flip a profit for a guy who hasn’t played too much in the last 12 months, you can’t complain that much I guess. Transfermarkt has his value at €8million and if you’re converting that to pounds then it’s around £7million, so we’re getting his fair market price. We’re dropping a fair old outlay for a second ‘keeper in Raya though, so I wonder how Arteta is going to ensure he holds his value if he doesn’t get the game time because Ramsdale is on top form? Or if he usurps Ramsdale’s position, how do you ensure that you get his value if you have to sell him next summer?

All problem’s for another time, I guess.

For now, our focus is on the game this weekend and if Arsenal can get any marginal gains – regardless of the opponent – I say that we take it and releasse Turner one minute after the deadline for him to play this weekend. Simples.

The other semi-Arsenal related news was that Maitland-Niles has joined Lyon on a free transfer and, bizarre welcome video aside, I hope he does well. He probably always thought he was a little better than he actually was, he never nailed down a starting place and when the chance came he went all Goldilocks on what he wanted. Sam Allardyce himself said when he was manager of West Brom that Ainsley should go back to Arsenal and tell them he’ll play wherever they want him, but clearly he didn’t feel that way and now he needs to ply his trade overseas.

Elsewhere in the Arsenal transfer world we have learned about Monaco’s offer for Balogun that has been rejected by The Arsenal hierarchy. And I’m glad. I am – frankly – getting sick of hearing of clubs low balling us. Yes we have been terrible sellers for some time, yes there is much work for Edu to do in that regard, but we’ve got a guy who bagged 21 goals in the French League last season and at his age and at any other team on the continent, they’d want double what has been offered by clubs so far. You’ve got West Ham bidding £30million for a midfield clobbermeister in Scott McTominay, yet clubs only value one of the hottest young striker properties in Europe last season at £37million?? It’s bizarre. Flo is a good player, he’s a player that Arsenal fans ourselves are saying that ideally we want to give him a shot because of his potential ceiling, yet we’re getting poverty pleaded to us by Italian and French teams. Last season Monaco made £100million in profit on player sales, this season they’ve made £22million in profit, and we’re supposed to believe that £37million is all they can afford? Shut up, cough up, let’s all move on with our lives.

Where is everyone saying “just pay the asking price if you want him” now?

Hopefully we get what we want, or at least in to the mid 40s for Flo. with a nice buyback or a very big sell on clause. He’s proved that he can do it in the French League and so Monaco can’t exactly plead the ‘unknown quantity’ card on us. He’ll bag plenty of goals for them and so I hope he goes there and makes a name for himself. Then, in a couple of years, if we have a buyback, let’s have him back for £60million as a polished striker ready to bang in the Premier League. That’d be a nice trajectory for me.

It is probably unlikely to happen, but we’ll see. Whatever the situation, we need to just get it resolved, because it is clear that Arteta has accepted he’s not part of the group and he’s clearly not getting game time this season. Better for us all to move on and hopefully it can just get done sooner rather than later.

I think i’ll leave it there for today. Off into the smog for a day of work so need to wrap this up and catch up with you all tomorrow.

Have a good’un, folks.