The transfer rumour mill continued to spin today, and because of the quality and content of some of the rumours, I thought I ought to remind you all not to take everything you read seriously.

Sometimes a rumour is completely true, sometimes partially, and sometimes utterly and completely made up, a thread of air spun with a golden loom of porky pies, embroidered with silk from the lie spider. Eighty percent of what papers write is to sell papers and get clicks, and you mustn’t let it affect you. Whether it’s a rumour that we’re selling someone or that we’re buying someone, don’t believe a word unless it’s backed up by someone believable.

Most rumours only serve to divide and weaken the Arsenal fanbase. For example:

Song to Barcelona results in either: “Good riddance, another useless player Wenger bought”, or “Bloody Wenger, selling our best players again.”

See what the common factor is? Don’t let that happen.

Theo’s a greedy boy, but not a nasty one

Theo Walcott is apparently keen to stay at Arsenal, but would like to be paid 100k a week. Contract talks are ongoing, according to various reliable sources on twitter, including the ever-helpful NorthBankLower.

Walcott isn’t pushing for any kind of move, and appears to have stopped using the RVP situation to give himself leverage. He’s been linked with a move to Inter Milan of all places today, by Sky Italia, but I wouldn’t worry about that.

While this might make a lot of you grumble, I think it’s fair to pay him this much. He could easily get that somewhere else and it’s better to keep him, both for the team and for Arsenal’s image. I’m looking forward to his next children’s book: “Little Timmy Strikes it Rich”.

Captain(?) Vantastic in limbo

Depending on what you read, Robin Van Persie is either off to United very soon, or staying put. One thing to look out for is that Alex Ferguson remained in England on “club business” rather than travel to Hannover for United’s friendly today. This could mean a number of things, but it suggests some kind of transfer.

On the other hand, Arsenal are now apparently refusing to speak to Kees Vos, and are playing hardball as promised. This came in the Daily Star, which is sadly the most accurate paper for Arsenal news. I say sadly, because it’s a nasty little rag. I’d much rather we chose a decent paper, like the Independent, to be our mouthpiece. It’s becoming more and more likely that our erstwhile captain will start the season at Arsenal at least, or possibly see out his contract.

There’s a lot of talk about how spectators will treat him should he play in tomorrow’s friendly, and I’d suggest acting like nothing’s happened. Despite his statement, he’s been a model pro in training and hasn’t tried to force a move publicly. I’m not happy with him, but he’s still an Arsenal player (and seemingly the captain), and he should be treated as such.

But what do I know? I’m just the words on the screen you’re reading.

Song....yawn....

“Alex Song agrees personal terms with Barca”. Does he now? I’m not going over this again, I explained it yesterday and I’ve no desire to go over it again.

Surprisingly, we’re not interested in anyone today, as far as I can tell, which is a welcome breath of fresh air.  Ligue 1 kicked off on Friday, and by all accounts Yann M’Vila and Etienne Capoue, our two alleged DM targets, had good games. Hooray! Not that we’re signing them.

Until tomorrow.

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