Arsenal face the unthinkable

There is a small possibility that the sun will rise on Ashburton Grove on September 1st with no new players at Arsenal.

Right now, despite the seeming lack of progress in the moves of Cole and Reyes, Arsenal are more likely to sell them than to buy anyone in the next two days. Atletico Madrid have put in a 13.5 mil offer for Reyes – rumoured to match Arsenal’s evaluation of the player. AM are not in the Champions League though, but if Reyes is as desperate for a move as he has shown himself to be, he shouldn’t care.

Arsenal will probably accept the offer, although they could wait for Real Madrid to make one last bid (you’d expect them to do that, or at least match what Atletico is offering).

Reportedly it’s all up to Ashley Cole now whether he decides to sign for Chelsea or stay at Arsenal, although it’s hard to imagine that Chelsea, after pursuing Cole for so long would not have known his ‘demands’ in advance. Cole has been making noises about being ‘ok’ with staying and his turn-out for the Arsenal Reserves can be taken to be another step in that direction. People are talking about the possibility that Cole, Reyes and Gallas could all be at Arsenal on Friday morning, although I doubt that Chelsea would allow Gallas to move to Arsenal without ensuring Cole’s signing.

Possible Arsenal Targets

Nigel Reo-Coker – possible, but if United are interested as well Arsenal could have a problem.

Mascherano – Apart from the fact that his agent has been in London and that two Corinthians reps have been spotted with the agent, nothing concrete has come about yet. He could go to Arsenal (who have been after him for a long time) and would certainly make things easier for them.

Tevez – you’re joking, right?

Gallas – Closest to signing although the thought that his move would depend on Chelsea’s whims and not Arsenal’s offer is not a positive one. Gallas has been very quiet himself in the last week, contrary to his regular media spiels of the last two months, so there’s little idea of what he’s going to do.

The only positive aspect of all this is that in less than 2 days it will be all over. There’s an off-chance that Arsenal will end up with no signings, but if that happens I don’t think that Wenger will let Cole and Reyes leave either, and having those two back for Arsenal could help quite a bit.