Well today has prevailed a lot of Arsenal transfer rumours and gossip:

The main story of the day has come from The Daily Star and it has said Barry has chosen Arsenal as his number one club he wants to move to this summer, in the quest for champions league football. The Daily Star says that Rafa Benitez will not bid again for him becuase he couldn't move last summer so this leaves the path for Arsenal, Tottenham and Manchester City (although they are linked with everyone now though aren't they).

Arsenal skipper Fabregas misses tough-tackling Mathieu Flamini who quit the Gunners last summer for AC Milan and has not been replaced.

So after a long week of Melo will sign and Melo won't it appears now conclusively that Juve have struck a deal and Arsenal can't financially and won't match it. So this leaves the door open for the question who will we attempt to sign now, after our main target has moved.. I shall discuss:

Blaise Matuidi

This transfers seems to be done on the evidence of things; he is apparently in England, according to Sky Sports news and his current club St Etienne have signed Fernande's from Man City (Central Defensive Midfielder) and appear to be looking for another defensive minded player, from Greece somewhere.

UDINESE defender Cristian Zapata claims Arsenal are among the clubs interested in signing him this summer.

The 22-year-old has made 17 league starts for Udinese this season and his performances for the Bianconeri have not gone unnoticed.

He said: "Juventus, Fiorentina, Milan, Arsenal and Villarreal have requested information about me.

Transfer rumour mill is heating up with many players being linked to Arsenal, but our old favourite appears to be top of the list. Yaya Toure is being tipped as wanting to come to Arsenal and team up with his brother. Wenger is a fan of Yaya, we had home on trial several years ago, but due to work permit problems, we were unable to sign him.

It has been reported in various newspapers today and web columns (especially on the Daily Mail) that Arsene Wenger will finally make his interest in Brazilian star Felipe Melo de Carvalho, currently of Fiorentina in the form of a bid.

Arsene Wenger has tracked the star for about 3 years now and lost out last season to Fiorentina who signed the Brazil international for £10 million euros from Almeria the Spanish side.

Could this week be the most exciting week in Arsenal's transfer history?

With the Confederation's Cup over and Brazil crowned champions, it is time to see if Arsenal's pursuit of Felippe Melo is indeed a true pursuit or merely more newspaper talk. Arsenal are reported to have offered Phillipe Senderos as part of the deal, but Wenger will not accept Fiorentina's valuation of £21 million for the Brazilian international.

Arsene will be focusing on rebuilding his central defence this summer. This rebuilding has started with the acquisition of Thomas Vermaelen, but it will not and cannot end here.

Of the central defenders on our books from last season, four of them have contract that expire next summer.

Good morning to everyone reading this post (or should I say good day if you are reading it after 12:00). There have been many rumours and gossip flying around today though a few appear to be substantial, which is quite good. I will digress:

Blaise Matuidi

Many of the morning's papers and various other media have been reporting that Blaise Matuidi is to sign for Arsenal for a fee ranging from £2.

Sky Sports have been reporting that not only that Arsenal are interested in signing St. Etienne's midfielder Blaise Matuidi, but that the player is in England at the moment. They go on to day that the play is in England with his agent and has been shown around Arsenal, and I do not think they meant a stadium tour!

Arsenal should be after a midfielder.

Gareth Barry was priced out of everyone's price bracket when Manchester City offered him £130,000 a week. This is double what Arsenal would have even thought of offering the England international.

Yaya Toure is the old chestnut that never goes away; look out for the Steven Appiah stories to emerge soon!

Mamadou Sakho, currently a young PSG Centre Back has been a target of Arsenal for a while now and according to his agent Arsenal are the "most interested" club but currently are "to cheap" inclining that we have made a bid but have not offered enough.

This is what he had to say:

"He will be moving clubs this summer.

The summer madness has started and it is only a matter of time before we are embroiled in trying to keep our best players.

Real Madrid are about to embark on €200 million transfer frenzy and the likes of Manchester City, Barcelona and Chelsea will not be far behind. Manchester United and Liverpool will splash out the customary £50 million on players.

Well before I start I've got a lot two get through. So this might take a while!

£15 million bid for Melo

According to "News of the World" and the "Daily Mirror" Arsenal have made a £15 million bid for Brazil and Fiorentina's defensive midfield player, as I already discussed a few days earlier to this post.

This is the only new transfer gossip of the day from the press apart from the obvious Cesc Fabregas measures which says Barca, Chelsea and Real are lining up a £50 million bid. We won't sell, well not yet anyway.

Anyway more on Matuidi of St Etienne:

Matuidi was born in Toulouse, to Angolan parents.

Following last week's declaration by respected French journalist Philippe Auclair that Arsenal are close to signing Morocco striker Maraoune Chamahk, another well respected journalist Gabriele Marcotti has made revelations about a potential Arsenal signing.

Talking on talkSPORT, Marcotti indicated that Fiorentina's Felipe Melo will sing for Arsenal once the Confederations Cup is over.

Arsenal appear to closing in on another summer target, Edin Dzeko, the prolific Bosnian striker who currently plies his trade at Bundesliga champions Wolfsburg.

Arsenal and Manchester City are both reported to have made bids for the player, but as with all things to do with Arsenal we undertake our transfers in secrecy rather than in the glare of the media.

Today has been quite a day for news stories reporting Arsenal FC; there has been transfer news, Wenger's quote's about various issues and stupid newspaper columnists sledging us over and over again. But let's calm down.

News reports on Huntelaar

It has been clear knowledge for a day now that Huntelaar is not keen on a mover to Stuggart even though Real have agreed a fee.

The transfer has finally opened and we all wait with baited breath for the arrival of new players to invigorate our squad and bring home trophies. Could Wenger break with tradition and focus his transfer targets on the domestic market?

Wenger has rarely bought English players and those he has have not for one reason or another been successful.

Whilst we are looking forward to players arriving next season, a squad can only have so many players, so inevitably there will be departures.

The possible or rather imminent departure of Adebayor has been well documented, but the Togolese striker will not be alone.

Reports today have Inter Milan wanting van Persie and Mourinho is prepared to spend £25 million for the Dutch striker.

Real Madrid are going on a massive spending spree, first Kaka, now Ronaldo and there will be one more "galactico" before Perez starts to look at squad players. Real have borrowed money from the banks (I do not hear any cries of foul play from Platini over the debt at Real Madrid), but his is not a bottomless pit and sooner or later they will have to listen to offers for their players.

We know that Arsene Wenger is monitoring Moroccan striker Marouane Chamakh, the boss told everyone that. We also know that Chamakh would love to come to the Emirates. We have a vacancy now as Adebayor has left and with the terrible news that Nasri will be out until October; this means that both Arshavin and Walcott will spend more time on the wings.

The focus today is Francophone players.

France Football's Phillipe Auclair stated that Arsenal are close to signing Chamakh from Bordeaux. Auclair is a respected journalist and knows quite a bit about Arsene's France based dealings. If Phillipe Auclair claims Arsenal are close to signing Marouane Chamakh, then that is more credible than a lot of the UK newspaper back pages.

It has been announced today in "The Guardian" newspaper that Real Madrid have sent a fax to many premier league clubs telling them of Real Madrid players up for sale. Within this list is Klaas-Jan Huntelaar who has been linked with Arsenal for a while and if and I say if Adebayor is sold then he could definitely be a worth while (and in my opinion better) replacement.

Reports in the UK media are saying that mega bucks Manchester City are preparing a £15 million bid for Toure.

Toure was subject of a bid from Manchester City in January; in fact the Ivory Coast defender handed in a written transfer request, but was persuaded by Wenger to withdraw it.

Internet site Sport.co.uk, the site that first reported the imminent signature of Thomas Vermaelen, though in fairness they do print so much garbage they are making Tribal football look respectable, are stating that Brazilian centre back Naldo is on his way from Werder Bremen to Arsenal.

They quote Werder Bremen coach who said, "Naldo is a great athlete and could do well at the right club, unfortunately he doesn't fit the direction we're planning to move in any longer.

Several website are reporting that Arsenal's pursuit of Marouane Chamakh to replace Adebayor has run into trouble. The stumbling block and this does not make sense is that Bordeaux want Silvestre as part of the deal.

What is strange is that it was widely reported that the Moroccan striker had a £7million buyout clause.

According to Mamadou Sakho's agent, Arsenal are in prime position to complete signing of the Paris St Germain defender.

Arsenal have been on Sakho's trail for some time, in line with half-a-dozen other La Ligue based players. Sakho is young, but it appears that Wenger believes the 19 year-old is able to make the grade in the Premier League at such a tender age.

Another day in the transfer market, so it must be a new target for Arsenal. Today the Daily Mail has Arsenal preparing a bid (I love the thought of Wenger, Gazidis and Friar sitting over a PC and typing out a bid) for Fiorentina's Felipe Melo.

The price is £15million (it appears that this is the going rate for players) despite the fact that Fiorentina have a bid of £15 million plus a player on the table, Arsenal are supposedly offering less!

Summer madness has hit us all.

Real Madrid led the way with £56 million and £80 million transfers of Kaka and Ronaldo respectively. Manchester City paid £12 million for Barry with a further £140,000 a-week in wages, whilst they are about to land Santa Cruz for £18 million. Manchester United have waved goodbye to two of their top players in Ronaldo and Tevez.

Will Arsene really sign a defensive midfielder this summer? The likelihood is no, unless that player is 29 years old, why? Arsene has stated he has embarked upon a project at Arsenal and that project is to play attractive football with young players.

What signal will go out to his current players and those below if Arsene signs a 25 year old.

Adebayor holds the key as to whether we see two or more players move to Arsenal this summer. Unlike last season when Wenger was determined that Adebayor will not leave, this season he is "easy" with the situation. In fact I have never known Wenger "tout" a player as he has done with Adebayor this season.

The confusion over the potential transfer of Felipe Melo has been somewhat clarified by Fiorentina with an official statement. The Italian club has stated that Melo has not signed for Juventus.

The club has made it clear that there is only club that has made an offer for Melo, who recently signed a new contract that included a release clause of £21million.

If there was ever a put down, then Bordeaux President Jean-Louis Triaud takes the top prize.

On hearing that Sunderland were interested in Marouane Chamakh, he merely stated, "I don't want to insult Sunderland, but I don't even know where they finished last season.

"You have heard him say he will only sign for a big English club.

Emmanuel Adebayor has passed a medical and will move to Manchester City once his work permit is approved.

The Togo striker, who has spent three-and-a-half seasons at Arsenal, is believed to be valued at £25m.

The 25-year-old, who scored 16 times for the Gunners last season, has also been linked to AC Milan and Chelsea.

As the Austrian training camp draws to a close, Arsene and his staff have a better understanding of where the squad needs to be strengthened in particular now the Adebayor has left and Toure is virtually a Man City player too, whilst Eboue and Senderos are also looking at Arsenal exits.

If Arsene sold the remaining four players he would have £55 million to spend, but before people go mad, he will not spend that sort of money.

Kolo Toure's relationship with Gallas has been well documented, they do not get on! Toure has told everyone and he was close to leaving in January. A transfer request was handed in but Arsene spoke to Kolo and the request was withdrawn.

Only last week Toure extolled the virtues of keeping the squad together

"I think keeping the team together is the most important thing," he said.

Arsenal are looking to sign Feyenoord youngster Luc Castaignos, however there is a caveat. The youngster would like to spend next season on loan at Feyernoord. If this is the price to pay to sign another promising youngster, then that is a small price to pay. In fact if the lad is prepared to sign a 5 year contract, Arsenal should go further and offer him a 2 year loan deal with Feyernoord.

Every fan looks anxiously at the transfer window and starts to wonder who we will sign, when will we sign anyone and who is leaving the club. For Arsenal fans this is more relevant this summer. We know from the rumblings around the dressing room, the stands and even in the board-room, that a failure to win something this season will see top players leave next summer and Arsene's future will definitely be brought into question.

Arsene Wenger has made his first real statement on the forthcoming season and possible transfer targets. It was all good news for Arsenal fans.

Arsene stated that he has identified one or two players to come in, in addition to Thomas Vermaelen. Arsene would like these players to come in before pre-season training starts on 6 July.