Arsenal's summer transfer activity: will there be any?

It's been rather frustrating of late, seeing the usual cryptic pronouncements of Arsene regarding our transfer policy. Apparently, we're now out of the race for Saviola, and, even though Arsene's interested, he's not going to pay £10m+ for Curtis Davies. I agree with him on the excessive price, but we do need new players.

Arsene's seeming reluctance to buy any one except proven quality at knock-down prices still surprises me slightly, despite his obvious desire to bring through the youngsters. Does he really think players like Bendtner, Lupoli and Aliadiere are going to come through anytime soon, and turn into blazing, title-challenging calibre players? It's all especially hard to bear when you see other clubs around us making positive and sensible inroads to getting new players. The Spuds now seem to be closing in on Duff after getting Zokora, while United are highly likely to get at one or two of Carrick, Gattuso, and Torres. Seeing Torres at United would break my heart. He's an Arsenal player if I ever saw one; I'd be willing to part-exchange Jose for him as well. Not that I'm one of those particularly anti-Jose people; I just think a deal such as this might be best for all of us. He's clearly not happy in England - despite what he says - and I'm not sure whether he can take the next step up in consistency and ability that Torres has.

Still, I'm with Arsene on not rushing to buy players from the Serie A car-boot sale. Of all the Juve players available, Buffon is the only one I see as a possibility, and at the mooted £12m he would be a steal. Even with the inevitable conflict this would cause with Jens, we have to start planning for his replacement - unfortunately - and this seems like too great an opportunity to pass up on. The only other players I'd like us to put in for would be Cannavaro, Gattuso and perhaps Thuram. We need an experienced defender, and a central midfielder to cover the Gilberto role. Unfortunately, Cannavaro is almost certainly on his way to Madrid, while I can't see Arsene bringing in Gattuso. All the other players involved in the relegation/points deduction are overpriced and/or we don't need them. I do hope Man U don't pinch Paddy though. *shudder*.

On a seperate note, it's good to see some justice handed out to these clubs. What'll happen to Juve now is anyone's guess though. I imagine that the massive 30 point deduction is merely a starting point for an inevitable appeal. If it stays that way, who's to say they'll won't get relegated to Serie C? Tough times for Juve, but their ex-board brought in on to themselves. Might also make next years Champions' League a bit interesting.

It seems whatever Arsene's transfer plans, and I'm confident/hoping he has some, we won't be able to go over £12m net spending per season, which is a condition of our new, re-negotiated bond. Considering that our net spending over the last couple of years has only been around £8m this isn't as big a wrench as it may seem.

Especially as we may be receiving £16m+ for Ashley Cole soon. He seems to be on a mission to leave the club. However, I think that the reasons that the alleged content of his book is coming out now could be an act of brinkmanship to keep himself at the club. He's still essentially waiting to see if the board give him the respect he so craves. Because, at a base level, this is what the entire Ashley situation is about. He went to Chelsea as the board were taking him for a ride over his wages. Then, instead of realising how near they'd come to losing one of their best players, they disrespected him further through reporting him and Chelsea to the FA. And the blood has been bad since.

I think Ash is acting a little like a spoilt child. But I do agree with Anti that just because he is an Arsenal player doesn't mean he can't criticise the board when he feels he's being mistreated, which he was before he met Chelsea. However, I think he's now pushed his comments beyond a reasonable level of criticism. I still want him to stay because I think he is such a good player, and all it would take is a nice contract to appease him. Something that would be far easier to do than looking for a replacement. Especially as Clichy is looking a little like one of those perma-'sicknote' players.

So my hopes for the summer is that we aren't a selling club. That we don't just cash in on Ash, and only get Rosicky. We need one or two new players of proven calibre if we're serious about next year. Otherwise even more youngsters are going to have to be blooded, which could turn one transitional season into two.

Meanwhile, does this guy ever shut up?