It has been an interesting transfer season, this one. I’m not sure how much effect the close of last season has had on everyone’s nerves (and faith), whether other major clubs are spending more and more amounts of crazy cash, or maybe there is a sense of despair creeping into the Arsenal fan psyche. Reading the blogs and news articles (reluctantly) is certainly a roller coaster ride in my opinion.

It is not all negative, despite being portrayed as such. Some media tactics are rather predictable. A number of Barcelona players have come out and said good things about Cesc and rather turgid things about the Arsenal club. Many articles in the English media suggest signs of a mass exodus, the crumbling of Arsene’s youth development, the pointlessness of holding players who want to leave, turmoil in the boardroom, and so on and so on.

Is it really so hard to sit back and reason why? I’ll give you two – our weakness is another teams’ strength and plenty of writers have their own agenda and favoritism, and maybe, just maybe, people think Arsenal fans are a little bit like the sensitive kid at school; when you knew you got under their skin it became a constant and reliable source of amusement.

A good example of this is how the media treated Mancini last season. His team could be mostly characterized as defensively orientated with strong roots in a classic Italian style of play. Arsenal play a possession game with continental flair, half the team is French or speaks French, as is the manager. Time after time I would read articles last year that were objective when it came to Mancini (whether his tenure and style matched the club’s wealth and ambition) and subjective when it came to Wenger (a season meltdown, throwing the water bottle, drawing Barcelona in the CL, a stubborn dictator).

I prefer to see this transfer window my own way and want to share that with you. I want Cesc to leave because a) he wants to, b) he is injury prone, and c) we built a team around him that is too inflexible and made him captain when it doesn’t suit him. I want Nasri to leave because a) he is not loyal enough, b) he can go missing badly in too many games, and c) his contractual hissy fit is a bad example to someone I would dearly hate to lose – Robin van Persie or Wilshere.

I think Wenger got the message when fans started telling him to spend at Fulham. I think he will spend and spend wisely. I think our defense will improve, our set piece nous will improve, and we will bring in people who can add to the defensive midfield stocks and provide alternative options to break down difficult opposition. I am less hopeful of losing some deadwood because there may be a reluctance to let players go for nothing. As noted elsewhere, that is a key issue for the club – wage structuring.

Lastly, the Champions League final was very enlightening. I am in awe of Manchester United and their consistent achievements, I also think Ferguson is a legend, but they got royally spanked in that game by a club we beat once last year. We got to the Carling Cup final but then blew it. We went some way to solving our goalkeeper crisis. We have a great stadium and one of the best English players to come along in some time. All we need is a surgical correction not a complete castration.

Japan’s Ryo Miyaichi will be part of the Arsenal squad to feature in the Asia Tour and could feature in Arsene Wenger’s first eleven, next season.

Speaking to Arsenal Player, the Arsenal boss confirmed that the 18-year old will travel with the rest of the team so as to feature in pre-season and show that he can secure a regular place.

Ahead of next season, the Frenchman confirmed that no radical changes are required in the squad even if the Gunners suffered back-to-back disappointing defeats at the end of the last season. And on the overall performance, Wenger insisted that the team is growing and getting stronger every year, reason why fans should be positive.

Next Wednesday, the Gunners will kick-off their pre-season campaign with the first of six schedule friendlies as they face Malaysia All-Stars XI with kick-off time at 13:45, UK time.

On the Japanese winger, Wenger said:
"[Ryo Miyaichi] is on the plane because he is quality. We want to give him a chance to show his quality and I think everybody will be curious to see him play in Asia.

I rate him personally [and] it’s a good opportunity for him to show that he has the talent to play for Arsenal Football Club. He has an opportunity to show that [he is good enough for the first team].

He has done extremely well at Feyenoord and we have so many good reports. It will be interesting to see him play.

[Why we are positive going into the new season?] Because of the disappointment we had at the end of last season people think we have to change everything.

[But] if you look at the global achievement of the team, we were close to win the Championship, we were knocked out by Barcelona but were certainly the team who went the closest to knock them out, so overall we feel the potential is there.

The team is growing, this team is getting stronger every year and we want to add what is needed. I’m not as negative as the emotional situation at the end of the season could have made us.

I believe we want to remain positive, continue to develop the team and add what makes the whole squad stronger."

Ivory Coast's forward Gervinho will become Wenger's first major signing on Monday. He has passed a medical on Wednesday night and will be unveiled at the Emirates Stadiuam at a conference on Monday.

French manager Wenger will pay Lille 12m euros for the forward ( around £9.5m) and a four year deal has been agreed.

Sky Sports "understood" that the deal was happening this week but I have been emailed by French reader Jean-Francois Boisvenu that such "understanding" is actually based on a report from French paper L'Equipe, which has confirmed today that the forward will be presented to the media this Monday.

His record of 51 goals in 6 years at Belgian club Beveren and French clubs Le Mans and Lille means he is not exactly the most exciting transfer but it is at least a start.

He scored 18 goals in 43 appearances for French champions Lille last season but Chamakh also excelled for former French champions Bordeaux.