Right so Monday morning has decided to absolutely detonate the gossip column and here we are trying to process all of it before the week has even properly started.
Declan Rice to Real Madrid. Again. Because of course. Every single Arsenal fan has been through this particular emotional rollercoaster before and honestly at this point it feels like that scene in Goodfellas where you think everything is finally calm and then suddenly it absolutely is not. Rice has been genuinely immense for Arsenal, the kind of signing that makes you realise what a proper defensive midfielder actually looks like, and now Real Madrid are sniffing around because that is just what Real Madrid do. They wait until you love something and then they want it. Arsenal paid serious money for him and the last thing Arteta needs is that engine room getting hollowed out.
Then there is the Morgan Rogers situation which is actually fascinating. Arsenal and PSG both want him. PSG. The club bankrolled by an entire nation. And Arsenal are in there competing for the same player. That either means Rogers is genuinely that good or Arsenal's recruitment team are about to have a very awkward conversation with the accounts department. Rogers has had a brilliant season for Villa and the interest makes complete sense but going up against PSG financially is a bit like turning up to a knife fight and realising the other bloke has brought a tank.
And then Alisson wanting to leave Liverpool for Juventus just sitting there quietly at the bottom of the gossip column like it is not actually enormous news. That would be a huge loss for Liverpool. He is still one of the best keepers in the world when fit and Slot will not want to be rebuilding that position on top of everything else.
All three of these stories together on one Monday morning is almost too much. Arsenal could lose Rice and miss out on Rogers in the same window. That would be a rough summer. The ambition is clearly there but ambition without the outcomes still hurts.
Let me know your thoughts.