8 Aug 2026
Saturday
Process
1 Edition

The Arsenal Sentinel

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Transfer targets

Arsenal make their move for Rayan

$19.9M on the table at Bournemouth. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

Market

Arsenal say no — this time

The offer from Valencia for Mikel Merino was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.

Squad

A move Rafinha would have made for nothing

There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Rafinha is living that version at Arsenal, and it tends to show in the first month.

Squad

Declan Rice in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at Arsenal

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and William Saliba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Transfer targets

Arsenal rebuffed over Lewis Hall

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Newcastle United have kept their man, and Arsenal go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

Illan Meslier signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Illan Meslier and Arsenal agree another 2 years.

Market

Declan Rice linked with a move away

The name of Declan Rice keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Arsenal say nothing, which says plenty.

The dugout

Martín Zubimendi asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

In brief