The main talking point at the moment is the reported quotes from one of our players of the season, Laurent Koscielny. Despite the fact he’s on record as saying he doesn’t want to go anywhere, and he loves it at Arsenal, people are still getting their knickers in a twist about the line where he says if he doesn’t win anything at Arsenal he “might” think about moving elsewhere.

And what is the problem with that? We all know reporters and journalists ask footballers leading questions so they can get their “story” and magical quote which will sell newspapers, but it is quite clear to me there’s no issue. Koscielny hasn’t said he wants to leave (in fact he’s stated he wants to stay) and outlined his ambition. And what is wrong with that?

No-one at Arsenal, and especially the players, should be settling for 4th spot in the Premier League, and our squad needs more winners. We’ve got some players who are hungry for success and it’s down to the manager and club to ensure we bring in players good enough to bring that success. We need to aim higher in our transfer dealings this summer and stop shopping in the bargain basement.

Which brings me nicely to the Wayne Rooney saga. We all know it’s not going to happen and this is just another perfect example of how journalists take a single quote out of context and make a completely fabricated story. Arsene said in an interview that he liked Wayne Rooney, and all of a sudden he’s coming to Arsenal? Come on, Arsene has on record said he likes Ronaldo, Messi and Falcao but it doesn’t mean they’re joining us!

On a more positive note, hopefully the departure of Denilson from the club (and more importantly our balance sheet) is a sign that Arsene is looking to offload the deadwood from the squad. We all know that players like Bendtner and Santos have no place at Arsenal and hopefully their futures are decided soon. We have the second highest wage bill in the Premier League (apparently) and with a lot of average players still on the books it’s not hard to see why.

And hopefully, that will free up some money to put towards the wages of players who will actually make a positive contribution to the club.

Like the Higuain, Jovetic, Benteke and Fabregas rumours which have been around for weeks now, the Wayne Rooney one is another which is still doing the rounds.

As many people have already pointed out, his salary demands are a million miles away from our famed wage structure and more importantly, Wayne Rooney is past it.

He’s a disruptive influence and a player Arsene would not want to manage. As usual, the football agents are “feeding” stories to the media to help him wangle a move away from Old Trafford, using Arsenal to try and drum up interest from other clubs.

Unfortunately, it’s not working and teams like Manchester City, Chelsea, Real Madrid and PSG who would be the only ones able to afford him and his wages aren’t taking the bait.

His stock has fallen so low that he now has to be associated with a team like Arsenal, who are regularly fighting for the Top 4 instead of any major trophies.

With the season now officially over for Arsenal, we are apparently after quite a few players (as usual) and if you believe everything you read, then it would seem we’d be bringing in about 10 new players for next season. Here I analyse the “transfer targets” and the likelihood of them actually happening:

Gonzalo Higuain (Likelihood: 1/10)

If you would believe the reports, we are going for the Argentine striker for around £19 million.

There is no doubt he is an excellent player, but he’s never coming to Arsenal. People have seen that Arsenal have this “war chest” and have started linking us to various names and put two and two together to make five. We have Podolski and Giroud, as well as Theo Walcott as options up front and while we probably do need a real finisher at the club, it’s hard to see anyone coming in without getting rid of the deadwood like Chamakh and Bendtner from the squad. Plus his wages would be a big stumbling block.

Stevan Jovetic (Likelihood: 3/10)

Another striker that we’ve been linked to for a while now is Fiorentina’s Stevan Jevotic. And apparently we’re in “advanced talks” with the player, as the Italian side look for around £20 million for his signature.

This is slightly more likely than Higuain but not by much. Like Higuain, he is a player that is looking to play elsewhere and if he does move to Fiorentina then it’s likely to be to one of the top Italian sides rather than North London.

Ashley Williams (Likelihood: 3/10)

Apparently a deal has been done and we’re bringing in Ashley Williams for around £10 million. The apparent logic is that we need to strengthen our central defence as Thomas Vermaelen is supposedly going to leave this summer.

To be honest, I haven’t seen much of him at all but this is probably another player who wants to leave his club and the media have just speculated all of this up.

Christian Benteke (Likelihood: 4/10)

No doubt a talented player, and the right age for Arsene to be interested. At 22, he has the potential to be even better and joining from Aston Villa, his wage demands wouldn’t be too bad.

But as I’ve mentioned before, we have a lot of attackers at the club already and you feel Arsene is going to keep faith in Giroud and hope he builds on a decent first season.

Cesc Fabregas (Likelihood: 1/10)

There have been rumblings that Cesc is unhappy at Barcelona and the theory is he would want to return to Arsenal where he would have a regular starting place. But he’s just won La Liga and when interviewed, he has actually stated he loves it at Barcelona. Also, he isn’t the kind of personality to just give up and there’s the fact that Xavi and Iniesta are entering the twilight of their careers so he knows he’ll be the main man in midfield in the coming years.

Overall:

The fact is, Arsene and Arsenal like to keep all of their transfer business top secret. With the vast majority of players Arsene has signed, we haven’t heard anything until it’s been announced official on the Arsenal website.

Arsene knows that making interest public automatically inflates prices and encourages bids from other clubs, so it is in our interests to keep everything quiet.

So sit back and wait for Arsenal to officially announce any deals, if there is any!

In the last 24 hours, Arsenal captain Thomas Vermaelen has posted on Twitter for the first time since last September. The first tweet was to thank the Arsenal fans for their support this season, the second about important upcoming Belgium fixtures and the latest talking about posting a message on his Facebook page.

Is this another Robin van Persie announcement. We know how much footballers love to post messages on their official Facebook or Twitter accounts and along with the fact that Vermaelen hasn’t been playing much at all this season, you wonder if he is going to make another “announcement” like our previous captain did.

Robin van Persie, Cesc Fabregas, William Gallas, Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira… I don’t need to tell you that the captains armband is basically a signal that they’ll be leaving sooner or later.

Anyway, I’m currently working on my Season Review and Top 5 Players of the Season pieces which should be up tonight and tomorrow.

Apparently, according to The Metro, Alex Song wants a return back to Arsenal.

Whether it’s a made up story, or whether there’s some truth behind it, it does raise a good question:

Would you want Alex Song back?

In days gone by, a return back to Arsenal after leaving would have been impossible, but we’ve seen Jens Lehmann, Sol Campbell and Thierry Henry all come back after stints away from the club. Obviously they were free stop gaps but still, Song coming back isn’t impossible.

The more likely option of course is that he leaves Barcelona after “his dream” doesn’t become reality and it dawns on him that he’s not Barcelona’s most important player, and moves to Tottenham or another club that wasn’t as good as Arsenal.

But would we take him back?

Although we’re still in the running for a Champions League spot after losing Song and Van Persie, I do feel we’ve missed Song’s presence.

I feel Arteta is more effective higher up the pitch and a midfield of Song, Arteta and Wilshere would be formidable. Aside from his tackling and covering the back four, his assist rate was excellent as well.

But what do you think?

Would you welcome him back with open arms?