Arsenal: Squillaci Deal Still Not Done as Wilshere Drops to Under 21s.

When we heard the news that Sevilla had agreed a deal with Arsenal and Squillaci was heading to London for a medical on Monday, I didn't think that we would still be waiting for official confirmation of the deal on Wednesday.

As we all know, however, Arsenal just don't seem to do things things quickly.

There's still almost a week to go before the transfer window closes so that means there's probably going to be a few more days to go at the current rate.

The general consensus at this stage is that Squillaci would be a very good addition to the squad as he would bring experience and know-how to a defence that seems a bit short of it at times. He has had a fairly good career up to now and he likes the physical aspect of the game that is such an important part of life in the Premier league.

He has also won quite a few trophies throughout his career and he may prove invaluable if we get ourselves into a position where we have a chance of winning a trophy ourselves this season.

His chances of playing in the Champions league with Sevilla disappeared last night as they were knocked out by Braga, so it would appear that he will be even happier with his decision to join us.

The draw for the group stages of the Champions league will be made tomorrow and Arsenal should find themselves in among the top seeds as their record over the last few years is one the best. We could of course be joined in that draw by our local rivals if the Spuds can see off Young Boys tonight.

I can't see them taking their opponents for granted as they did last week and I expect them to qualify but you never know what may happen if that goal they need is a long time coming.

If they do qualify, they will likely be in with the lower ranked teams, which means that they will probably have a very tough draw. It will be great to hear the complaints from their fans if we get a reasonable draw and they get a really tough one. The group stages kick off in three weeks time and our fixtures after almost  each of our games are not easy to say the least.

Our squad will be tested to the limit as we travel away to Bolton, Chelsea, Man City, Aston Villa, and "Manure" on the weekends after five of those Champions league games. The game against Newcastle is the only home game among them.

If we can find ourselves still in contention for the league after that schedule and into the knockout stages of the Champions league as well, our season will be very promising indeed.

Young Jack Wilshere made his debut for the England senior team a couple of weeks ago but he has now been selected for the under 21 squad for next month's games against Portugal and Lithuania.

It's not really a step down for him at only 18 years of age, as at least he will get to play for the under 21s and he would not have played for the senior team.

Interestingly, Kieran Gibbs has not been selected for the under 21s which would seem to point to him getting into the senior squad despite the fact that he is only a sub at Arsenal. It won't be easy for him to dislodge Clichy from the team but Clichy has to know that he can't afford too many slip ups this season.

There's still no more news on any other potential transfer targets including Schwarzer. It looks more and more likely that next Tuesday will be the day for us to do any deals besides the Squillaci one.

There are quite a few teams in dire need of additions to their squads, so I expect this weekend to be very busy and next Monday and Tuesday to be even busier.

At least it will give us fans something to write and talk about as the players head off for another round of international games after the weekend games. Just as the season is getting up and running, it's so annoying to see the players going out on international duty. Arsenal can expect to lose up to 18 players for those games. It will be a minor miracle if all of those players come back in one piece.

At this stage of the season Cesc Fabregas has played more minutes for his country than he has for his club and even if he plays for us at the weekend, that statistic will continue until at least the home game against Bolton on Saturday September 11th.

Even though the Blackburn game is still three days away, I'm starting to get nervous about two weeks without proper football so soon into the season. In the good old days the players played on Saturday for their clubs, Wednesday for their countries and Saturday for their clubs again. That's not it today.

Here's a look at a very funny video from Harry Enfield. It's Arsenal 1930 against Liverpool 1991 and although I've shown it before it's worth looking at again.

See You Tomorrow.