The Arsenal Sentinel
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Fee done, terms next for Diogo Costa
Arsenal and Porto have settled on $38.4M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Door shut on Gianluigi Donnarumma
Arsenal asked and Manchester City said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
No deal for Hugo Ekitiké at that price
Arsenal offered $45.2M; Liverpool said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Market17 Aug 2026
Manchester City come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Arsenal did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market17 Aug 2026
Illan Meslier says no to Oviedo
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Illan Meslier had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Arsenal
Declan Rice and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Arsenal
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Gabriel falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Market17 Aug 2026
One of our own: Edward Graham joins the Arsenal first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Edward Graham is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
In brief
- Market One of our own: Edward Roberts joins the Arsenal first team
- Looking ahead A reunion for Declan Rice
- The dugout Benjamin Young knocks on the manager's door