Only last summer Arsenal managed to complete the shock transfer of the talented and experienced Czech Republic international Petr Cech from our Premier League rivals Chelsea, despite the fact that their manager at the time Jose Mourinho wanted to block the move and their captain John Terry warned about the huge helping hand it would be giving a direct rival.
But that does not mean that Chelsea would let it happen again if they could do anything about it, even though the signing of Cech did not make Arsenal into champions as we hoped and they feared. So I was surprised to read in The Sun about us being linked with the young Chelsea forward Dominic Solanke.
The highly rated 18-year old is currently on loan with Vitesse Arnhem in the Dutch Eredivisie, where his performances and seven goals in 24 games has really made people sit up and take notice. It has also made Chelsea very keen to get Solanke to sign an extension to the current contract which is due to expire next summer.
However, Arsenal apparently want to take advantage of the terrible record that Chelsea have with their emerging academy stars, but let me just pour some cold water on this particular rumour for you. For one thing, we already have the likes of Alex Iwobi, Joel Campbell and Danny Welbeck fighting for the forward places and that is without considering our own emerging players like Akpom and Reine-Adelaide.
What Arsenal really need is not more potential but a proven and top class striker or two and that is not the only reason why Arsenal fans can forget this one, because the reason the contract talks between Chelsea and Solanke have stalled is that he is asking for around £50,000 a week as well as playing assurances. Do I really need to say any more?