Rich

It sounds like Rafa's trying for four more, perhaps even five if a miracle happens, but a lot hinges on what he can do to shift the deadwood. We'll certainly bring in a striker at the very least, as that's the position where we're absolutely bare. However, as he's alluded to we're now at the stage where we're effectively signing players to improve the squad rather than to improve the first team (signing players we "need" rather than "want"), which means the potential difference they can make to us is significantly reduced. Ideally you want to be buying/loaning players to improve your weakest parts of the starting eleven, not just to fill a hole.

Krul Simpson Williamson Coloccini Enrique Ben Arfa Barton Tiote Gutierrez Nolan Carroll Best team from 10/11? Elliot Yedlin Lejeune Clark Dummett Ritchie Shelvey Hayden Atsu Perez Gayle Best team today? Probably weaker now than in 8-10 places man-for-man when considering the abilities of that team at the time, we've also got less experience and general know how but a better manager and more professional coaching setup. Think the only ones up for debate are Yedlin/Simpson, Lejeune/Williamson and Shelvey/Barton at the current time. Contextually the league is possibly better now than it was then, although that's a hard thing to quantify.

https://twitter.com/ArsenalsRelated/status/895727581768458240?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.goal.com%2Fen%2Fnews%2Fvideo-wenger-and-mertesacker-take-part-in-hilarious%2Fuh5213i0auhe1qyer7myw11k8 These two seem canny

Anyone know where Ashley lives and have a picture of Justin Barnes?

The shine has been taken off this season a bit for me like, but still excited for Sunday and getting back into the Gallowgate.

Doesn't train well and concedes a penalty. Sell. Solid stuff here.

So now we know the worst case scenario squad-wise. Still think it'll look a fair bit better than that. Not hard to improve upon Haidara, Saivet, Colback and Hanley even if you've only got buttons to spend.

Go on Rob.

Lejeune all the way.

Not you Santy

Why's he crawled out of the woodwork?

Is it still £940k per televised game, or did that go up this summer?

Still no word on a sleeve sponsor. A few teams have just announced this week, but we're cutting it fine as usual. You'd think it would earn us around £2-3m a year, considering Liverpool got £5m and Man Utd £12m. Apparently we could be part of a group who are negotiating to share a sponsor through SGI, from what I've found with a quick search. There's no confirmation from Bournemouth, Brighton, Burnley, Everton, Tottenham or West Ham yet either, while Southampton and Arsenal are forbidden from finding new sponsors due to their existing deals with Virgin Media and Emirates.

One I had hoped we'd be in for, but can't complain at Murphy/Kenedy instead.

Think he'll be kept and used as a wildcard sub if he can stay fit. If we're not doing shite by Jan then maybe send to Champioship. I'm liking our depth out wide, though none of them are really Prem proven (even Ritchie was fair-to-middling in his season).

Kenedy coming in looks a shrewd move given the number of positions he can operate in. Does it impact on Gamez and/or Aarons in any way, do people think? Been very little on a potential loan for Aarons and he has impressed in pre-season (yet again). Gamez seems to be one we'd sell if we got a reasonable offer in for. Think we've still got massive holes up front (2, arguably), at number ten and in goal. Otherwise it's starting to come together.

Ryder at the cutting edge of journalism once more.

Well tbf the Mirror own the Ronny Gill, so they could lay claim to this. They did with the one the Echo broke, so I guess it's possible.

Was that one Atsu as well? I'm not really counting Atsu as it was an option. The only one they broke was Murphy.

? #wait

Chronicle now at 1/5 for the summer. Love these "out of nowhere" deals.

Four more.

Done.

Misterrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr Kenedy: http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/newcastle-snap-up-chelsea-outcast-10960463