This has been the busiest summer ever for Arsenal. Epically crazy. Permanent additions Mikel Arteta, Everton, Aug 31 Per Mertesacker, Werder Bremen, Aug 31 Andre dos Santos, Fenerbache, Aug 31 Ju Young Park, AS Monaco, Aug 30 Joel Campbell, Deportivo Saprissa, Aug 14 Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Southampton, Aug 8 Gervinho, Lille, Jul 18 Carl Jenkinson, Charlton Athletic, Jun 8 Season-long loans Yossi Benayoun, Chelsea, Aug 31 Permanent subtractions Gilles Sunu, Lorient, Aug 31 Armand Traore, QPR, Aug 30 Samir Nasri, Manchester City, Aug 24 Emmanuel Eboue, Galatasaray, Aug 16 Cesc Fabregas, Barcelona, Aug 15 Jamie Edge, Aug 1 Mark Randall, Jul 31 Tom Cruise, Jul 31 Roarie Deacon, Jul 31 Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, Ipswitch Town, Jul 21 Gael Clichy, Manchester City, Jul 4 Season-long loans Henri Lansbury, West Ham, Aug 31 Nicklas Bendtner, Sunderland, Aug 31 Joel Campbell, FC Lorient, Aug 31 Pedro Botelho, Rayo Vallecano, Aug 16 Carlos Vela, Real Sociedad, Aug 16 Kyle Bartley, Rangers, Aug 5 Samuel Galindo, Gimnastic De Tarragona, Aug 4 James Shea, Dagenham & Redbridge, Jul 26 Denilson, Sao Paulo, July 20 Wellington, Levante, July 10
Supposedly Arteta was at the ground yesterday by 6:30 and we were having a drink with him relaxing. We just chose not to announce the signing until the end. Benayoun apparently did take most of the evening to get done.
Boas was in France for an 'Elite Coaches' meeting. That was probably why the Benayoun signing took longer than expected. I also heard that Chelsea gave us the green light to sign non-first team players from Chelsea. Why didn't we pick up Alex?
