Attempting to decode the rumours

So, it's August and there are still no new signings at the back. Cesc Fábregas, Samir Nasri and Nicklas Bendtner are still lingering, as is Manuel Almunia and Emmanuel Eboue.

Some Gooners respond like it's their birthday and they haven't got any presents, so they'll have to make do with their old toys.

The impatience is understandable, but remember that it's brought about by the media and their exploitation of our discontent. Everyone “knows” Arsenal need strengthening at the back, hence every centre back and his uncle can be linked without any journalistic effort – I mean, like talking to sources or checking facts and all that jazz.

Arsenal are not in control of this hype.

Meanwhile, every impatient Arsenal fan buys the papers and clicks on the stories, creating interest, prompting papers and websites to publish more, and at the same time working the same impatient fan into a frenzy because it seems SO MUCH IS HAPPENING GET THE F-ING FINGER OUT, ARSENE while, in reality, nothing is new from day to day. Much like the manager says in his press briefings.

However, many fans won’t believe Wenger and instead believes the tabloids. This I can’t get my head around.

Arsenal, Tottenham and Manchester City are among the clubs where the problem is wages. Our and their deadwood are paid so much that other clubs, particularly outside the Premier League, can’t afford them. We can’t really complain, as the wages are the main factor for English clubs when it comes to recruiting foreign stars. And the foreign stars are recruited because the local talent is overpriced (i.e. Jordan Henderson, Stewart Downing and others Arsenal, too, have been linked with).

However, Manchester City can afford deadwood. They can leave players like Craig Bellamy, Emmanuel Adebayor or Shaun Wright-Phillips out of their 25 man squad if they so wish, as money is no obstacle.

Manchester United can sell their surplus players because, I believe, their wage structure is different and because the subs of the league champions still are regarded as reinforcements at mid table clubs. Especially those managed by former Manchester United players. And, frankly, which Premier League club would think of Eboue and Sebastien Squillaci as reinforcements?

As long as Arsenal aim for sustainable football, they won’t commit vast amounts on new players’ wages and fees without cutting other costs (i.e. selling other players) first.

Shedding Almunia, Eboue and Bendtner (but probably no others) would be Wenger’s plan if I’m to hazard a guess. He’ll never let Squillaci loose after just one season, even if the only reason were that he wouldn’t admit to making a mistake.

One big problem looks to be Bendtner. From the outside, it looks like his agent/dad is spectacularly incompetent. The player was so adamant to leave that Gervinho already has been brought in as a replacement. But no one in European football shares his own view of how good he is. So from being linked with top clubs in Italy and Germany (by his dad), he was linked with Turkish and Portuguese clubs (by his dad) and is today linked with Stoke. It’s the 20th – TWENTIETH – club linked with Bendtner since 1 May, as the compilation here shows.

The Bendtner snags mean that Gaël Clichy money won’t be spent, and we’re a defender short and an attacker over budget. No wonder Carl Jenkinson has been drafted into the first team before anyone had the time to introduce him to reserve team manager Neil Banfield.

It's all because Arsenal won’t buy until anyone is sold. Wenger is even on record saying his priority is to keep what he has.

Take Juan Mata. Reporters are knocking each other over the heads with different angles and sources. Some say his release clause has expired, others that it won’t matter. The player himself is on record saying he will stay, and his agent/dad (another!) says the club has turned Arsenal down.

However, Arsenal can’t afford Mata unless Cesc leaves and is paid for. Barcelona dragging their feet ties up Arsenal’s feet. This is probably why another Nasri rumour emerges today. Manchester City recognize what’s about to (not) happen and wants to exploit it.

Meanwhile, Cesc and Mata both may both find the matters out of their own hands. Clubs can still accept transfer offers for players who wouldn’t want to leave, de facto forcing them out. Would you stay in your job if your boss called you into the office and said he had fixed a new job for you somewhere else – please take it?

Stories the last few weeks have been like broken records. Like Gary Cahill, a year from the end of his contract, but still priced at £17m. And the manager who waited a year for Marouane Chamakh to come on a free would spend that? I fully expect him to sign for someone else in January.

Christopher Samba has been linked since the end of last season, perhaps longer. No bid has been made, at least since a panic buy in January was considered. Still, the story is now so old that reports and articles just mention him in passing, and that way links him again and again, prompting other articles to mention him in passing, and so on. Rumours like that get a life of their own.

We are reported to have bid for Phil Jagielka. Wenger seems to have confirmed this in an indirect manner. But would the manager who held out for £22m to sell Joleon Lescott, at a club who lack signings of their own, struggling to fill their subs bench, be likely to sell their star defender?

Cool heads are needed in Silly Season. Sadly, they are far apart these days.