Silly Season turning into Evil Season?

Shameless as I am, I'd like to point to my blog entry from two weeks ago. It was called "No news does not mean no reporting".

* I wrote that the single story surrounding Cesc Fábregas was that Barcelona couldn't afford Arsenal's asking price. They still can't.

* I wrote that the single story surrounding Samir Nasri was that contract negotiations were ongoing. They still haven't been broken off. (On the contrary, other rumours suggest that a deal is agreed in principle, but not signed. Rumours are rumours.)

Nothing more has happened. And again tonight, Arsène Wenger stays on message: "I love Fábregas and I want him to stay. That is basically it."

At the same time, he confirms again that Emmanuel Eboue and Nicklas Bendtner are looking for new employers. He wouldn't have any reason to deny it if there were other deals in the pipeline.

But so many Gooners have lost faith in Wenger, without admitting that they have. What's written and reported - even when it's repeated and spun well beyond real journalism - is more readily believed than the words of the most open manager in the Premier League.

After several years tracking Arsenal's Silly Seasons - even before this blog - I've never sensed such a foul mood among supporters. Compiling the rumours is meant to be a fun way of exposing the abysmal level of sports journalism in the transfer windows. This summer, I'm starting to hope that pointing at the lunacy of the back pages will make at least some Gooners to see some sense.

"We want the finest wines available to humanity, and we want them now!"

I wrote about some of the same sentiments almost a year ago. Transfer dealings aren't as straightforward as in the computer games. There are always at least three parties, buying club, selling club and player.

It's my personal opinion that Arsenal should recruit another experienced defensive midfielder to compete with and complement Alex Song. I believe that the four or five central defenders would play better if they had better protection from midfield, much like Emmanuel Petit and Patrick Vieira shielded the Fab Five in the Double winning squad of 1997/98.

But what I think doesn't matter! It's what the manager thinks, and which needs the manager wants seen to.

"I understand the impatience of people," Wenger said in Lisbon tonight. The pressure on him is partly placed there by his own words, and those of CEO Ivan Gazidis. The transfer window was expected to be busy. It hasn't been busy enough for many fans, their hunger for new names whipped up by endless repetitions of the same rumours. Most are now just mentioned in passing, as if they were truths, and then they're even more accepted as truth, and repeated in passing more and more often... yes, I've written about this before, haven't I?

Lots of Arsenal fans on Twitter are now banging on about making signings. Now! Anyone! Even Joey Barton! When confronted with normal laws of economy and business conduct, they cry out: "Spend! Spend anyway! Everyone else are doing it!"

It's like listening to populist politicians. No money is easier spent than somebody else's.

But imagine the amounts you need to invest in a new player. The transfer fee is one thing, even if a player comes for "free" there is a sign-on fee. There is a long-term contract worth six digits every month. And in the uncertainty of the transfer markets to come under UEFA's Financial Fair Play rules, you need to make those investments in the right players.

That is what Wenger means when he wants "super quality" signings, not just any standard Premier League players.

There's another element all too often forgotten. Ironically, the frenzy of the fans' frustrations add to that particular problem. If everyone in international football believe that Arsenal are desperate, prices go up.

And you wouldn't buy poorer quality for a higher price in your own business, would you?