Arsene Wenger said in his press conference ahead of the Arsenal v Sunderland game that he was not in transfer mode yet. In fact he said it quite a few times as the press people were determined to badger some sort of comment about Raheem Sterling or Petr Cech out of the Frenchman.
As well as deciding who to bring in to the club though, Wenger has some big decisions to make on who will leave and there are two very good players that could well be on their way out, mainly because of their age and the increasingly strong competition for places in midfield.
What I wonder is whether us fans will get to see either Mikel Arteta or Tomas Rosicky playing for Arsenal ever again. There is just one Premier League game and one FA cup final left this season before Wenger has to make the call.
Rosicky is 34-years old now and despite still being able to show his brilliance at times, he is out of contract and with Ozil, Cazorla, Wilshere, and the Oz already fighting for places, it does seem unlikely that he will get another year. If so I would love to see our little Mozart get one more chance to dazzle and delight us with his super skills as he nearly made the breakthrough coming on tonight.
Arteta’s situation is more complicated as he is younger and there is not as much competition for his place, not to mention the fact that he is club captain. However, the transfer of a top quality all round central midfielder like Schneiderlin would put his position in the team at great risk even more than the form of Coquelin has done.
Arteta is fit again but has not been included in the match day squads so does this tell you that he will be off as well?