Unfortunately, Jeff is again unavailable for his daily round-up today so I will take over hoping not to annoy you with what I have to say.

So, let’s get the ball rolling and the first topic I wanted to share with you is the future of Gael Clichy especially now that more and more left-backs are being linked with a move to Arsenal, with – according to Metro – Newcastle’s Jose Enrique the latest player to be monitored by the Gunners just in case the Frenchman leaves during the summer.

But do we really need Clichy to leave to sign a new left-back? As I always say, I don’t follow other teams that closely during the season so I cannot really focus on how good or bad the 25-year old Spaniard is but I will just say that whenever I read about a possible replacement for Gael, I always hope that it is more than just a rumour as the Frenchman has been very disappointing in these last couple of seasons.

Now maybe you will not accept the ratings I give after every single game as a valid, objective, argument but I think Lee Dixon’s opinion has a certain weight and he couldn’t have said it any better when he said that he is a funny one as in he was very promising when he broke in Arsene Wenger’s starting eleven but that over the last two years his progression has tailed off.

Where I disagree with Lee – respectfully of course – is when he hints at the promotion of Kieran Gibbs to finally understand if he can take over from Gael on the left and that is because simply put, the Englishman is not ready to be given the huge responsibility of first-team football, not yet at least.

Make no mistake, I like Kieran but he needs to play on a regular basis, ideally in a team that likes to park the bus, in order to understand what it means to defend when under heavy pressure.

In other news, Ray Parlour confessed that he would welcome Scott Parker and Jermain Defoe at the club. Ah yes, one coming from the other side of London. Now I am not who says no just because a player plays for Spurs, but, I will just say that what Ray says is spot on, we create way too many chances but it seems we always struggle to finish them off so a poacher like Defoe – although not necessarily him(Falcao anyone?) – would be great to have.

As for Scott Parker, I have been moaning about having no experience in the squad for the last two years so I would be lying if I say that I wouldn’t be happy if he signs.

The only problem is of course that the idea of a 30-year old who brings experience to the squad is someone like Mikael Silvestre or Sebastien Squillaci for our manager, nothing to get too excited about. But who knows, maybe this summer will really be one of changes, although I will only believe it when I see it.

The funny thing is that an experienced player should not necessarily join to play all sixty games we play in a season. To again quote Lee Dixon, last month he told the BBC that a player like Clarence Seedorf would fit perfectly as he knows what it means to lose but most importantly, he knows what it means to win.

Unfortunately, as it is, our squad is made up of way too many players who are here to learn and who only know the losing side of the game so it would be nice to change this as it is easy to say it with words – just read what our manager and players say during the summer – but doing it on the pitch is a complete different story and it’s on the pitch that players like Clarence Seedorf can be an asset.

Anyway, summer always brings a sense of sorrow, too many names linked, too many F5s pushed on our keyboards to refresh sites like http://www.footballscores.com/ yet at the end of the day we know that the important ones will go elsewhere. Will it be different this year? Who knows? Take good care of yourselves and as always, please do join us in our newly-launched Arsenal Forum, we will be more than happy to have you aboard!