Quite a lot has happened in the last couple of days… 19 July, 2008

Sorry I haven’t kept you fully up to date but I’ve been in Bournemouth the past couple of days. I’m back now though and I’ll get you right up to speed.

Firstly, Alex Hleb’s move to Barca was finally sorted. Last time we spoke he was having his medical but the deal was fully signed up soon after that. We’re getting something around £12m for him, which isn’t bad. You should’ve seen the look on Thierry Henry’s face at the press conference though. Sorry Thierry, but it was fucking hilarious. Just break his leg of something.

Whilst on the subject of Henry, he was voted our greatest ever player on Arsenal.com, and was very proud of it.

Whilst Hleb was in Barcelona, Gilberto Silva was in Greece sorting out his own move. He’s signed a three-year-deal with Panathinaikos. It was an emotional moment for Arsenal fans and the official website (and blogs across the world) were full of tributes to the Brazilian which but the Hleb move to shame.

I don’t know a single person who has anything against Gilberto. He was always so professional and passionate. He was an integral part of our side; he won the Premiership unbeaten in 2004 and gave us strength as captain when Henry was injured in 2007. Those two campaigns stand out in Gilberto’s Arsenal career but he has had a career full of highlights.

Arsenal.com had a good piece on Gilberto’s attitude to football but I’m sure you read round the blogs yesterday seeing all the personal tributes.

It’s strange because he played almost no part in last season but we’re all still upset by his departure. In reality though, his time at Arsenal was coming to a sharp close. Gilbertosilver of Gunnerblog.com had the idea of Gilberto coming back into the first team next season, I supported him on that. If he could get back to the form of a couple of season’s ago, that’d be fantastic.

I was Gilberto all the best in Greece. I hope the move works out well for him and we get to see him again. Cheers.

Tomas Rosicky has spoken the inevitable: He will miss the start of the season through injury. He says he should be back in for September but who knows with him. If he gets a string of games next season, well it’ll be remarkable. I’m not being sarcastic here, I sincerely hope that Tomas can get back to full fitness and overcome his injury nightmares.

We’ve signed someone too. It’s 17-year-old Francis Coquelin. One for the future obviously.

Today we get back to football in what seems a fucking lifetime. We travel the short distance to Underhill to play Barnet. It’s always the first pre-season game of the summer and one I always really look forward too. It might not be the biggest of games but my cravings for some football are going mental.

It’s not going to be full strength but we should see a few decent names in there: Walcott, Ramsey, Clichy, Sagna, Almunia and more. Vela was meant to be in the squad but I’ve heard he’s not now.

I’m setting off for the game soon. I’m standing on the uncovered North Terrace but just as I’ve been writing this the sun has come out. Fingers crossed it stays like this. For those of you not going though, the game is live on Arsenal TV on Setanta. There’ll be a match report up tomorrow. Until then.