Arsenal signed Nicklas Bendtner in 2004 when he was only 16 years of age. In the 2004/2005 season, he formed a prolific strike partnership with other promising talent Arturo Lupoli in the reserves. He had loan moves to Birmingham City, Sunderland and Juventus with varying success.

He’s never been the most prolific striker at the top level, but he is not short of self-confidence. At senior level his record is roughly 1 goal scored every 4 games (well, 3.66 to be exact) while at national level it is pretty impressive, having scored 22 goals in 55 appearances.

So what happened? At 25 years of age, he is hardly damaged goods, and if you look back at his goals for Arsenal the signs are there that he has talent. But as we all know too well with football, talent can only get you so far.

He’s damaged parked cars while on a night out with his team-mates at Sunderland, there was a fight at a Newcastle hotel, he famously walked out of a night club with his pants down and he has been done for drink-driving. He also showed off his PaddyPower boxer shorts while on national duty in Euro 2012.

He seems destined (unless he has a personality transplant) to join the ranks of players who have great potential but for one reason or another, end up with a disappointing career. Specific names that spring to mind include David Bentley, Jermaine Pennant, Anthony Stokes, Jay Simpson, Armand Traore and Jay Emmanuel-Thomas. Not quite fading into obscurity into the 3rd or 4th tier of football competitions, but maybe playing for teams lower in the top league or in the 2nd tier.

At 25 years of age, this really is make or break time for Bendtner. He is still young enough to make a really good career for himself, and has yet to reach his peak age of 27/28. But at the same time, from his Twitter and other social media accounts, it seems that fame and fortune is more important than getting his head down and performing well on the pitch. It may be an unfair assumption, but his career to date reflect this. He is young, sure of himself and it would be fair to say he may not be the best at taking advice or criticism.

The regret for Arsenal was he had the potential (and that’s the key word) to do well at Arsenal. His most productive season for us was in 2008-2009, after which main striker Emmanuel Adebayor left. This was probably the time for him to come to the fore if he was ever going to make it at Arsenal, but having a serious car accident at the start of the 2009-2010 season didn’t help matters. After that, his Arsenal career stuttered and he’s been on the outside looking in ever since.

You can’t accuse Arsene Wenger of not giving him chances. He’s made close to 160 appearances for Arsenal in the 5 seasons he’s been in our squad (and not on loan) and despite showing glimpses of promise, just hasn’t delivered.

Wherever Nicklas Bendtner ends up, I wish him luck.

As Jose Mourinho famously quoted towards the end of his last reign as Chelsea manager regarding the January Transfer Window when he had an injury crisis, he likened the state of his squad to eggs:

“In the supermarket you have class one, two or class three eggs and some are more expensive than others and some give you better omelettes.

“So when the class one eggs are in Waitrose and you cannot go there, you have a problem.”

At the moment, with rejected bids for Luis Suarez, Lars Bender and TLTDTEW, it’s clear that Arsene Wenger is shopping at Waitrose but only has his Tesco vouchers. And we all know that supermarkets won’t accept vouchers from other stores because of the Transactions and Payments Legislation Law of 2001 (okay I made that up but you get my point).

Why are we putting in low bids (well, bids that aren’t high enough) for players just to get knocked back instantly (Suarez, Bender) by their clubs, or trying to get players on the cheap (Higuain, Fellaini). Then there are players we’re just so left field I have no idea where they came from (Torres, Barry, Rooney).

Are these bids even serious? On first reflection the £30 million bid for Suarez seems ridiculous, and the first impressions you get are that Arsenal are trying to get him “on the cheap” and that Liverpool are going to want much more for him (something around £45 million probably). But maybe, the bid isn’t so crazy after all.

Luis Suarez is undoubtedly talented but he has big problems. Would a club like Arsenal, who have class, want to be associated with a player who has been found guilty of racism and biting other players? When you think of that, the bid seems a bit mental. How could we rely on a player that could be missing for months on end.

Or maybe because the Higuain deal is dead in the water, we’re looking at other options. If I had to evaluate Suarez’s value in the transfer market, around £32 million would probably be right. He is a talented player but has far too much baggage to reach the £40 million plus mark. If his attitude was right, he’d be worth that.

Plus, I’ve already said on record that I wouldn’t want him at Arsenal.

The most likely scenario is that Arsenal are trying to force Real Madrid’s hand. By bidding for Suarez, it “forces” Real to offload Higuain and try and get Suarez. It could be Arsene playing Poker again (like he did with Alex Ferguson over RVP) but then I wonder are Arsenal capable of playing these games? Real Madrid’s president Florentino Perez seems to think so.

Could this be a summer where Arsenal are linked to superstars such as Wayne Rooney, Luis Suarez, Gonzalo Huguain, Marouane Fellaini, Lars Bender and Fernando Torres, only to end up with a young French player from Ligue 1?

Never fear, when Abou Diaby returns from injury for the 2,946th time, it will be like a new signing! Luckily Tomas Rosicky has injury problems now as well so when he comes back that’s another signing!

Ever since the season ended, Arsenal fans have heard all kinds of rumours about potential targets. Here, I try and identify the hard facts, against all the “fiction” made up online and in the press.

So what is actually going on in the transfer market? Here are the only hard facts with their official sources:

• Arsenal have had an £18.5 million bid rejected for Bayer Leverkusen’s Lars Bender [Bayer Leverkusen]
• Arsenal have bid £30 million for Luis Suarez, which Liverpool immediately rejected [Liverpool FC]
• Real Madrid’s president Florentino Perez has come out and said that there has been no offer from Arsenal for Gonzalo Higuain [Real Madrid]
• Arsenal have signed Yaya Sanogo on a free from Auxerre [Arsenal FC]

So they are the only “facts” (say it in a Rafa Benitez voice) to come out so far, from the actual football clubs involved. As yet, there has been no word on transfers or deals from Arsenal, except for the signing of Sanogo.

And here are the “theories and rumours” that have been circulating Twitter, the Internet and the press:

• Arsenal have already agreed a deal for Gonzalo Higuain for £22.5 million.
• We’ve agreed a 3 year contract worth £130,000 a week.
• Real Madrid are “haggling” on the price and holding out for more money.
• Arsenal do not want to fork out an extra £2.5 million for Higuain.
• Arsenal only bid on Luis Suarez to get Real Madrid to hurry up and sell Higuain to us.
• Arsenal have bid for Marouane Fellaini, but aren’t willing to pay the release clause that he has on his contract (Arsenal want to pay £20 million, Everton want £23 million).
• Arsenal are serious about bringing Wayne Rooney to The Emirates, smashing their transfer and wages records in the process.
• Arsenal are interested in bringing in Fernando Torres and Gareth Barry to the club.
• Real Madrid are willing to let Higuain join Tottenham in a part-exchange plus cash dead for Gareth Bale.
• We’ve also been linked with Jovetic, but those rumours died a quick death.

I’m sure there’s countless more “news” that has been going around but that’s all I can think of for now.

So what do you make of that?

From what I’ve read, I pretty much thought the Higuain deal was 95% certain to happen. But the latest news from Real Mardid pretty much kills any optimism for that happening. Maybe Arsenal and Real Madrid are playing games? Who knows.

Many people have vented their frustration and anger at Arsene Wenger and the board, which at this stage is slightly unfair. While it does seem like Arsenal are penny-pinching in the transfer market, it is the media and press that are making up stories to sell newspapers and gain hits and unfortunatly we Arsenal fans, desperate for a new era where we actually recruit some world class players, are hungry for any positive developments.

I did find it strange however that Ivan Gazidis came out publicly and announced to the world they had a massive war chest and could spend mega money on wages. For a club that is usually so shrewd in transfer dealings, that was a stupid thing to come out with.

I don’t think I can take it anymore, maybe I should just lock myself up in dark room until the start of the season…

They say it’s not the disappointment that kills you, it’s the hope.