Morning All,

Where do the media get these stories from..?

Now I said the other day I’d make a sneaky bid for Matic I think he would do a good job for us but to offer Chelsea Ox in part exchange seems totally ridiculous and frankly idiotic..! Matic is 28 and although a good player who I reckon would give us a bit more steel in midfield why would we give them Ox..? I suppose we really don’t know if Ox is kicking and screaming that he is definitely not going to sign a new contract but surely there are better options that a swap with Chelsea for Matic?

We all know the papers are looking to stir the pot this time of the season but some of the stories knocking around truly are laughable. Then again are they..?

There is a reported offer from Sampdoria for Wilshere and they are willing to pay us a huge sum of nine million quid. The fact that Jack seems to be permanently injured and hardly set the world on fire whilst on loan and Bournemouth last year makes me think he is one who is surplus to requirements. I know from a sentimental point of view we all want and wanted Jack to be the real deal but in theory he has offered the team very little over the last 2/3 seasons apart from keeping the medical team busy. I’d take the money and run i think, throw in a buy back clause and a sell on clause in case he manages to stay fit and produce regularly great form but hand on heart i’d let him go.

Yesterday’s game in Sydney was a good watch and a good run out for the squad. I think it’s safe to sat a couple of youngsters got everyone’s attention and if they carry on with those kind of performances over the next 5/6 pre-season matches then Arsene has a few big decisions to make. Why do we continue to loan out players that seem to then go backwards? is it not better to keep them around the club and integrate them into the first team? It’s a problem that has been an issue for years without proper decent reserve team football that the step up from being on the cusp to actually playing first team football is huge.

We loan out players who don’t get picked don’t get the playing time needed and then we get them back a season later and they have not matured or improved as we had hoped, back to square one.

Looking at yesterdays game Nelson, Nketiah, Willock, Bielik and to a certain extent Bramall all showed huge promise and potential.

Bramall is still raw but is a bit of a rough diamond, does he take the place of someone like Gibbs as a squad player..?

I thought both Willock and Nelson looked very comfy on the ball, tenacious and hungry to do well. Bielik is still also a little raw but also in a back three when am sure he used to playing centre of a back four and or sitting as the defensive midfielder. He is a big lad and at 19 still learning the game. Nketiah came on and showed glimpses of his talent and although out of position you can see the boy knows where to be in the penalty box.

Another good run out on Saturday and another opportunity to shine and maybe by the time the Emirates cup comes around Arsene will have a clearer idea who he is looking to keep involved with the first team and who he thinks will benefit from being loaned out. My issue with that is when do we actually see the benefits of any players that have been loaned out, think we can count on one hand.

I won’t mention Lacazette scoring, ok well I just did, it’s great to get off to a scoring start, just hope he carries it on and maybe the best will be if he shows Theo how to score from ten yards out and do us all a favour.

Have a good day all.