Simon Jones

Attacking Midfielder (R) - Arsenal U18
18 Aug 2026
Tuesday
Process

Marked for Simon Jones

3 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Transfer targets

Fee done, terms next for Ricardo Pepi

Arsenal and PSV have settled on $29.5M. 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 targets

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 targets

An offer of $35.2M for Diogo Costa

Arsenal have gone to Porto with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.

Market

Myles Lewis-Skelly moves on

Hull City pay $40.9M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.

Market

Arsenal turn down Borussia Dortmund for Martin Ødegaard

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Squad

Chris Rigg gets the move he always wanted

Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Chris Rigg has just signed for Arsenal, and for once the answer mattered.

Squad

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.

Boardroom

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.

Squad

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.

In brief