Saturday Arsenal News Review

Good morning, just a swift one from me this morning as I'm off to work shortly. Most of the Arsenal talk this morning centres around Cesc Fabregas and the ongoing saga with Barcelona's attempt to sign him.

Newly installed Barcelona president Sandro Rosell has again come out with the party line that Barcelona won't pay an "unjustified" sum for his services. Bearing in mind that this is a club that has just negotiated a fee for the sale of Yaya Toure that reportedly covered the lion's share of £30 million, by their own logic the fee Cesc commands must easily be justifiable at double that as a minimum.

Barcelona have talked and talked and talked this summer, and it is beginning to get very tiresome. Arsenal fans knew it was coming, we knew with this being a Barcelona presidential election year that they were going to throw Cesc's name around like confetti at a wedding. But still, this has been going on for two months now, and we've potentially got another two months of it ahead.

I said recently I think that Arsenal should consider going down the route of seeking sanctions against Barcelona, who have repeatedly flouted the rules of the transfer market during this little saga. That they then hide behind the media when they're criticised for their tactics and say, "oh it's not us, it's all the newspapers!" does not excuse their offences.

One thing that is evident is that Barcelona's style has won them no friends at Arsenal, who made clear when Barcelona made their one formal offer for Cesc that they were not interested in doing business with them. Barcelona made a mess of their attempt to sign Cesc by talking it to death, and unfortunately for them they know no other way to go about their business so they've continued to dig themselves into a hole.

Arsenal do not have to sell Cesc, Arsenal do not want to sell Cesc, Barcelona know this and still they seem to live in this dream world where they think Arsenal will suddenly remember that they are the great F.C. Barcelona, mes que un club , and it is a great honour for other clubs to sell them their players. They need to wake up quickly.

I'm not saying that Arsenal aren't run by businessmen, who despite what they may say publicly, may indeed have a price that they will accept for an asset like Cesc that they think it is best for Arsenal FC to accept.

What I am saying is that Barcelona, through their own actions, are the ones who have driven that price up as high as it can go. They can talk about not paying an "unjustified" amount of money, but they're the ones who've put themselves in the position where they have to pay that sort of money to have a club that is thoroughly unimpressed with them do business.

Moving on, Theo Walcott wants to have an injury-free season next term. He says,"Last season was a disappointment, personally, with the amount of injuries I have had.

"Hopefully I can have an injury-free season—that is my first target, and to try and help this team win something.

"I think it is difficult to have a whole season without any injuries, but that is football and we have got to live with that.

"I will just be trying to concentrate on having a better season than last year, because it was a disappointment not to play as much as I wanted to."

We've rarely seen Theo unhindered by some sort of niggle or another. He's in a position now where he's fit and going to be well-rested coming into the new season. The stage is set for him to show exactly why his omission from the England squad was a ridiculous decision and more importantly to demonstrate exactly what he can offer Arsenal at his best.

Arsene Wenger, as we know, is currently doing some punditry, I assume for French TV in South Africa for the World Cup. We know this because every time he compliments a player they get linked with a move to Arsenal.

The latest in this line is Keisuke Honda.   The best player on show for Japan by a mile, he was undoubtedly impressive at the World Cup, but quite honestly I'd be very surprised to see any kind of actual bid for him materialise.

And that's it. Told you it was a quick one this morning. My apologies, but what can one do when one is made to work at such ludicrous times on a Saturday morning? I'm off out tonight as well, so apologies if tomorrow's article arrives at a weird and wonderful hour. Take it easy, speak to you tomorrow.