This is priceless for Arsenal fans, while at the same time will have the twerps from Tottenham grinding their teeth in frustration. Because the Arsenal captain and vice-captain have revealed that it was their intervention that caused Arsenal to hijack the transfer of Danny Welbeck from Man United on transfer deadline day.
The story, reported by the Daily Star, is that the Spuds were the only club in the running for the England striker and were poised to secure his services on a year long loan deal, until he bumped into Mikel Arteta and Per Mertesacker.
It is a lucky coincidence for us that England were using Arsenal training facilities, because a quick chat between the three players there on that Monday made the Arsenal captains aware that there was a chance that Arsene Wenger could still bring Welbeck to the Emirates, so they called the Frenchman in Rome and got the wheels turning. The rest is history.
Welbeck was already in the mind of Wenger and had been recommended by his England team mates at Arsenal as they believed he was perfect for the club. Why the boss had not tried to contact Welbeck and United before is unclear, but maybe he assumed that United would not sanction the transfer to us. I am still surprised they did.
So the poor old Spuds missed out and it was too late for them to get another striker by that time, leaving them with goal shy Soldado and Adebayor, who must be due for a big long sulk any time now. It appears that Arsenal fans have even more reason to cheer Arteta and the BFG, while the spuds must hate them even more. Now we just need Welbeck to score against them when we meet and all be sweet.