Sell Nicklas Bendtner, Sebastien Squillaci and Manuel Almunia, as well as loaning out some youngsters such as JET, who will struggle to get games with van Persie, Chamakh, Gervinho and Vela about. Also Frimpong who I would like to see as backup for Song but with him being injured for so long, ne needs competitive games to improve and continue his development. Sending him out on loan to get regular first team football would be the smarter long- term thing to do with him in my opinion

Here is a list of what I think should be Arsenal’s chronological checklist for this summer:

1. Tell Barcelona ‘how it is’. We should just say to Barcelona, either: ‘Look, you’re disrupting our preparations for the new season with your constant disrespect and tapping up so just put it a bid or make it clear that you aren’t going to put in another bid for Fabregas.’ OR, just say ‘Fabregas isn’t for sale so stop tapping him up or else we’re going to report you to FIFA and/or UEFA’.

That SHOULD put an end to it for this summer and there will be less pessimism and worry amongst players and supporters about whether he’ll stay or go.

2. Sign Chris Samba. It shouldn’t take a massive Man City type fee, maybe £15 million. This would be a record signing for Arsene Wenger but I think he’d be worth it. He has all the attributes and abilities that Arsenal lack/need more of. He is a leader, brave, good in the air and strong in the tackle. He is also very determined and will throw himself in front of a shot if he has to to stop the opposition scoring. He could help sort out our main weakness too, defending set pieces. He would be a defender strikers wouldn’t feel confident about going into an aerial battle with and he would make teams less confident of scoring against Arsenal as teams would no longer look at us as a team weak at the back and easy to bully at the back, they would look at us and see a solid, strong centre defence in the shape of Samba and Vermaelen.

A dream partnership that would make us more solid at the back and harder to penetrate in the air. As one of my main worries about Arsenal is that teams will go into games against us full of confidence, hence performing better than they would against the likes of Man Utd. He is also a good communicator and will notch the occassional goal himself. In addition to this, he has got decent technique that would only improve under the guidance of Wenger and our coaching staff. I think it would be preferable we signed him sooner rather than later so he can get to know his new team- mates during pre- season and play with them a few times instead of making his debut with them in a competitive game. (Not that I wouldn’t settle for buying him at 11.59pm on August 31st mind you- aslong as we sign him I’ll be happy.)

3. Get Samir Nasri to sign a contract, hopefully the new singings would help convince him that Arsenal is the place to be and it shouldn’t be too hard given he’s supposedly ‘committed to Arsenal’ as Wenger said. (I’m still not too sure what to make of those comments as, if he was committed, wouldn’t he have signed a new contract by now?)

4. Sell Nicklas Bendtner, Sebastien Squillaci and Manuel Almunia, as well as loaning out some youngsters such as JET, who will struggle to get games with van Persie, Chamakh, Gervinho and Vela about. Also Frimpong who I would like to see as backup for Song but with him being injured for so long, ne needs competitive games to improve and continue his development. Sending him out on loan to get regular first team football would be the smarter long- term thing to do with him in my opinion.

In conclusion, I don’t think there needs to be drastic measures at Arsenal like some Paul Merson type characters probably think there do. But I think we need to sign a centre half if we are going to win the league next season, and Chris Samba would be my first choice.

By the way, my blog http://thelifeofanarsenalsupporter.blogspot.com is crying out for readers, so please visit it if you can.

Mean Lean’s Response

I still find my mind chopping and changing between thinking Samba would be a good acquisition to thinking he would be out of place at Arsenal. I think this is because what he does have would be a plus to our squad. His power in the air, his strength at holding off players in the mould of Drogba, and he does seem like a leader but the difference between defending for Blackburn and for Arsenal are two very different things all together, not just the level of play but the system we play.

We have been talking about bringing in a central defender who thinks about defending first and foremost, a player who will throw himself at headers and lead from the back. Well that player sounds very much big Phil Senderos who became horribly exposed with slid passes down the side of him in our high line. He had the attributes that we lack in the team today against the cave men of the Premier League but in open play he was often caught out.

I may be wrong but that is the feeling I get in regards to Samba. If the £10m bid for Jagielka is true then I would understand that a little more as he is more mobile and comfortable in possession that Samba but I am not sure if he is any bigger than Thomas Vermaelen. Not that it is all about height.

The more this transfer window goes on, the more I think the club are preparing for life without Cesc and that is why we are keeping hold of Nasri, unless of course the player has decided to stay put to see out his contract. As we know, it is down to Barcelona to pay or delete our number from their mobile phone.

I think regardless of what happens to Cesc Fabregas, we will start the season with a very good team. How good depends on many factors such as which players are brought in and what they provide to the team. As well as that, I expect leaps forward from both Wilshere and Ramsey and that is quite exciting.