Fact and Friction

If you’re an avid football fan, one of the few things that can make the close season bearable is transfer talk. All those rumours about who may sign and who will leave. And best of all, the thrill of learning about new signings and the fun of speculating how they will fit in.

So how has it been so far for the Arsenal faithful? On the debit side, they’ve had to come to terms with the massive loss of two players touched by genius – the incomparable and recently retired Dennis Bergkamp, arguably the finest foreign player to grace the Premiership, and Robert Pires to Villarreal, a maker and scorer of remarkable goals. Add to that the departure of Sol Campbell in search of a new challenge abroad which so far has seen him washed up in the harbour of a famous south coast naval base and linked with Manchester City (which is just about as far from ‘abroad’ as you can get), the sale of Ryan Smith to Derby and a host of young players loaned out for first team experience – Kerrea Gilbert to Cardiff City and a promising trio consisting of Fabrice Muamba, Nicklas Bendtner and Sebastian Larsson off to Birmingham City. And finally, there is the brooding Ashley Cole who, with a brand of logic that only he can comprehend, has attempted to justify his defection to Chelsea by means of the extraordinary argument that Arsenal have snubbed his ‘loyalty’ and ‘hung him out to dry’.

As for the good news, Arsenal have signed Tomas Rosicky from Borussia Dortmund – and anyone who saw the World Cup finals in Germany will appreciate what a coup that is. The rest is speculation. Ribery? Gallas? Reyes to Real Madrid? But who – beyond the confines of the Arsenal boardroom and the manager’s trusted lieutenants – knows? No-one, of course – because whatever Ashley Cole in his current mood may say, Arsenal simply don’t work that way.