I suspect we'll see some activity now this is done. Last summer's dash proved the club can do (damn good) business very quickly if they need to.
Like Arteta? One of our best players last year.
Like Mertesacker, Santos and to an extent Arteta yes. Seeing as we were linked with the likes of Mata and Hazard last year but couldn't sign them, we panicked on the last day and signed Arteta. He was quite good, sure but no doubt Hazard or Mata would have been far better and Arteta was obviously a Plan B or C player.
That doesn't seem very reliable.
Hard comparing them. Mata and Hazard could not do the job Arteta did for us and vica versa.
It is one of the better 'sources', especially in terms of newspapers.
Like Mertesacker, Santos and to an extent Arteta yes. Seeing as we were linked with the likes of Mata and Hazard last year but couldn't sign them, we panicked on the last day and signed Arteta. He was quite good, sure but no doubt Hazard or Mata would have been far better and Arteta was obviously a Plan B or C player.
Arteta was superb. Mert and Santos were not too bad either.
Santos was weak defensively and Mertesacker really wasn't that good last season. Arteta was very solid, not amazing, but a good addition.
You are wrong on all 3 counts.
It is understood Van Persie was encouraged by the arrivals of Germany forward Lukas Podolski, France striker Olivier Giroud and Spain midfielder Cazorla - to the point where he was open to the idea of staying with or without a new contract.
But Wenger pulled him aside shortly before Sunday's friendly victory over Cologne, told him he would be sold if a deal could be reached and informed the Dutchman he was no longer part of his plans.
Arteta was the foundation of our team last season, it annoys me when people say he did nothing spectacular. Ever seen Xavi play? never does anything fancy, but he dictates the tempo and flow of the game, and that's why Xavi is the worlds best midfielder. Arteta is a mini xavi. We didn't win last season without Arteta in the side.
Xavi is a brilliant passer of the ball, much much better than Arteta. I really don't see how you can make that comparison. Arteta moves the play on well, sure, but he rarely picks out killer passes and is mostly just there to keep attacks going. You can argue it's a "foundation" but to me that's just doing a fairly basic job. Although I'm not denying that he did it well, he's not exactly an amazing player.