It was by no means surprising that this mornings tabloids were full of transfer speculation concerning the club. What was, however, not so expected was the lead article in The Sun that claimed that Steve Bould is on the verge of signing for Liverpool on a free transfer. This comes as quite a surprise- it appeared that he, along with Nigel Winterburn and Lee Dixon had signed their new one year deals on the close season tour of the Far East.

The story claims that Bould may go head North because they are offering him the security of a two year deal where as Arsene has only put a one year offer on the table. It would undoubtedly be sad to lose Bouldie. He would leave a hero having spent eleven years at the club in which he has won three league championships, an League Cup, FA Cup and Cup Winners Cup Medal. He is overdue a testimonial as incidently is Lee Dixon.

Bould's possible departure raises the worrying question as to whether Dixon and Winterburn have signed new contracts. With the arrival of Luhzny and possibly another full back they may decide to make one last career move should they not have signed their contracts already. Whilst we should be able to cope with the departure of Bould the same can not be said of the longserving full backs. Bould only played a bit part last season where as they were ever presents in Europe's meanest defence.

This mornings press reports have also strongly linked the Gunners for a double Italian swoop. Certainly the signing of Gianluca Pessotto seems a genuine possibility. There is little doubt that for one reason or another Wenger was in Turin earlier this week. With Juve denying any interest whatsoever in Nicholas Anelka the logical answer is that Le Boss was trying to prise away a player from the region. Pessotto would cost around £5 million and can play both in defence and in midfield according to reports. The second player linked is Roberto Muzzi, the Cagliari striker. He has been mooted for some time as a possible Arsenal target. Certainly with Wenger on the prow for strikers it is feesable. The chances of these two signings going through have been strengthened by the wording employed by the club to deny the story. It was described as 'speculation.' Essentially this means that there exist elements of truth in the story for otherwise a flat rebutal would have been issued.

The Mirror, not for the first time, linked the club with a move for Corinthians left back Silvinho. There was little to flesh to the story save for the line claiming that Wenger last night flew to Brazil to negociate the deal. The Nic Anelka situation and the possible signing of Robbie Fowler have been deliberately left out of this article. See the following piece for more on the striker situation.