Arsenal

[Daley]

I watched that Bergkamp Newcastle goal again yesterday and had a thought. If any of Vieria, Bergkamp, Pires or Henry were in our team now they would more than likely be the best player in our side. And we had all four. At the same.

Shit man, we should have won the champions league then.

[gizmo1990]

Had to +1 the Bergkamp post, for me easily Arsenals all time greatest player. A genuine role model who seemed a real man of principal to go along with an awesome footballing brain and the technique to match it.

[Daley]

Also one of my greatest regrets is seeing Bergkamp in Whetstone walk into a restaurant while I was having a drink in a bar next door. I couldn't get out quick enough to get a picture with him and by the time I did he was sat down at his table. Didn't have the heart to disturb him once he sat down.

[Dude Ranch]

I watched that Bergkamp Newcastle goal again yesterday and had a thought. If any of Vieria, Bergkamp, Pires or Henry were in our team now they would more than likely be the best player in our side. And we had all four. At the same.

Shit man, we should have won the champions league then.

My Liverpool FC nutcasebututterlytremendous mate sent me a text after one particular CL match that simply read 'win the Champions League, man' such was our obvious quality to all and apparent destiny to win the fucking thing. We missed our chance, unfortunately. At least I was there to see it not happen, as were you.

Still, I got to see the fab four you mentioned with my dad week in week out playing dream football and it was worth every penny. Nowadays we simply strive to compete in the chasing pack. I am really getting more and more depressed per day, I try not to think about it.

[Art Vandelay]

I think it's just the trudging predictability each season brings that makes supporting us a bit crushing at the moment. The wheels come off in the exact same way at the exact same time each year and the summer is just the definition of tedium. You just feel like you've seen it all before, like several sequels to a film that was shit in the first place.

[Dude Ranch]

I think it's just the trudging predictability each season brings that makes supporting us a bit crushing at the moment. The wheels come off in the exact same way at the exact same time each year and the summer is just the definition of tedium. You just feel like you've seen it all before, like several sequels to a film that was shit in the first place.

But Arsene Wenger is adamant that Arsenal can continue to challenge for the Premier League title despite being unable to compete financially with their rivals.

It's not all doom and gloom!

[toythatkills]

It started so well, this summer. Podolski was signed instantly and Giroud not long after. Was this to be the summer we were all waiting for?

How can it be that now two of our biggest stars are on the verge of leaving and there's fuck all on the horizon? How the fuck have we ended up back in 2011? I look forward to seeing who we find in the bargain bin on August 31st. I hope there's another Arteta in there somewhere.

[g wings]

In fairness we don't normally know who is going to be signed until they arrive. I'm not saying that we are about to unveil Messi but I don't necessarily believe we are done for the summer. At least, that's what the hopeful side of me thinks...

[Art Vandelay]

Yeah, the policy the club has in not discussing their dealings in public can often give the impression they're not doing much which you hope isn't the case. Having said that though, last summer was a disaster and one of our own making at that. We allowed everyone who fancied it to bully us and a bit of competence could have seen the majority of those cock ups safely avoided.

I thought we made a great start this year, but just by looking at the enourmous amount of housekeeping that needs to be done suggests things aren't going to plan, let alone sorting out contracts and whatnot. Realistically there needs to be a two out two in swap of goalkeepers then about a dozen other players to offload and then replaced to some extent. Sounds like quite a bit to achieve before the start of the season, which is like a month away. The dream of getting a lot of it done before pre-season starts is out of the window now I guess.

[Guest]

The behind the scenes infighting is fairly horrible. The one upside I can see is that you are far better off in my opinion if you end up getting shot of Walcott, I still find him to be unbelievably overrated. I think Podolski and Giroud could be class as well.

[Cosmic_Guru]

BBC reporting offers received from Man City, Man U and Juventus, plus RVP not flying out tomorrow. I assume the club's preference would be to sell to Juve but they would be highly unlikely to match the wages offered by the other clubs.

[Steve007]

Had to +1 the Bergkamp post, for me easily Arsenals all time greatest player. A genuine role model who seemed a real man of principal to go along with an awesome footballing brain and the technique to match it.

Bergkamp was already my favourite player before he even signed for us. I remember seeing him play for Ajax and wishing that one day we would sign a player like that. After two poor seasons at Inter it became a reality. I remember the few days before he signed for us there were rumours that Cruyff was trying to lure him to Barcelona and at one point I remember reading on Teletext that Spurs were the favourites to sign him. I still have the newspaper I bought the day after he signed for us with all the pictures and quotes from the press conference. There was no internet at the time so all we had for news was the papers and Teletext.

Then I think I was listening to 606 just after he signed for us and Spurs fans were going mental as we had signed Bergkamp and they had spunked their cash on Chris Armstrong

[The Fox]

Fucking absurd that Van Persie is not being made to go to Asia, unless a deal is imminent. It sends out a message of weakness, yet again.

[Gotters]

I'd always put Bergkamp above anybody else as my favourite Arsenal player, he had a touch of majesty to him that few players possess, even the current wonder kids Messi & Ronaldo can't do some of the things Bergkamp could.

I've got no beef with RvP leaving but hope we get shot to Juve rather than the Manc's.

Can't see first home game of season being a sell out, tix not on sale for Reds until only a fortnight before the match.

[DC Lemon]

I refuse to believe Sir Alex is really interested in him. Neither Manchester club needs him, therefore I can only hope he's forcing City to buy him and (1) cause more problems for their big egos up front and (2) push the price up. Not that even FFP will make much difference to City when it comes to other clubs pushing the price up, but every extra bit of price tag pressure on RVP helps!

But if a 28-year-old injury prone striker were to end up at Old Trafford this summer and make it impossible for us to get that world class midfielder we so desperately need, that would be better for Arsenal, I assure you.

[The Fox]

He won't go to United because he has zero resale value. They have stated numerous times since Berbatov that they don't want to spend big money on players pushing 30 any more.

[Rev]

Man Utd need a striker if they want to compete with City - they've really got two kids and Rooney. None of which you could describe as consistent.

EDIT: But as said above, I'm not sure it'll be RVP.

[The Fox]

They've just bought Kagawa though who is basically a No10.

[Rev]

I think unless they sign anyone else he'll be expected to play deeper most of the time.

[The Fox]

Yeah it looks that way at the moment. Hopefully that'll be a fucking disaster for them, because he's bloody good as an attacker.

[toythatkills]

It's not like it'll make a difference if he goes to City, if they don't buy him they'll just spend £40m on someone else instead. At least if he goes there we'll know he's a cunt, rather than if he goes to Juve at which point we could never be entirely sure.

When was the last time we sold a player to United?

[redbloodcell]

BBC reporting offers received from Man City, Man U and Juventus, plus RVP not flying out tomorrow. I assume the club's preference would be to sell to Juve but they would be highly unlikely to match the wages offered by the other clubs.

Lower tax rate in Italy though so they'd not need to entirely. I'd rather have Cavani though.

[Art Vandelay]

The Man Utd stuff just stinks of his agents planting stories to me. I can't ever see that happening. We'll want him to go to Juve but they'll buy Jovetic and he'll end up at Man City, who really were the only club in for him anyway. All this paper talk is just part of the forbidden transfer dance it seems mandatory to take part in. If he wanted to go abroad there would have been no point in causing such a fuss like he has. The belm.

[Rev]

When was the last time we sold a player to United?

Well, Silvestre the other way. But I'll go with he's-a-Wednesday-more-or-less-legend Viv Anderson (off the top of my head).

[V3zna]

The Utd link is alledgedly pretty much nonsense. A tentative enquiry at most.

I'd imagine there's a danger of this dragging on too long if City need to get shot of several players before they attempt to buy RVP. Nobody at City you'd take in part exchange?

[Rev]

The trouble is, they're all on such high wages it is unlikely to work. Personally I wouldn't mind Johnson and I think Boyata would be useful, I seriously doubt either of them being involved in an RVP deal though.

[Art Vandelay]

If our fans get on Walcott's back they'd boo themselves horse over Johnson. He's absolutely pump and precisely the sort of player we don't need.

[Oh Danny Boy]

Nobody at City you'd take in part exchange?

Adebayor!

[Guest]

Adebayor!

[Rev]

If our fans get on Walcott's back they'd boo themselves horse over Johnson. He's absolutely pump and precisely the sort of player we don't need.

You're probably right, but I'd rather have Johnson than Walcott, personally. He's not perfect, but he's got a fairly decent ball and I think he'd have come on a lot further if he'd have been getting full games.

I just can't take Walcott running in a straight line and falling over any more though.