Despite playing 4 times for the first team last season, Flamini was out of contract at the French club, and so arranged to sign for Arsenal. But Marseilles claim that they had a verbal agreement with the player. They complained to FIFA, whose Players Statuis Committee ruled that there was nothing wrong with him signing for another club. But (according to Marseilles) the new ruling says,

"The Court of Arbitration found faulty drafting in the FIFA decision and stated that they were not qualified enough to make a decision."

Although our understanding is that this court's ruling is not law, and that Arsenal could only be forced to abide by it if they had gone into the process saying that they would, it does seem likely that Arsenal will now end up paying Marseilles substantial compensation. It's only fair: they developed him and we're reaping the rewards. Flamini being forced to return to France would be a nightmare for Arsene Wenger, what with Edu becoming a non-person and Gilberto's back likely to keep him out till April at the earliest. But Le Boss doesn't anticipate any such problem. He says that this court has made similar rulings before and the return of the player was not the outcome "but it could improve a bit the compensation that we have to pay".

Wenger also gave details of the move. "This boy was free, we have nothing to hide. The first day I met him was just before the European Championships. He told me that his first priority was to stay at Marseille but he couldn't do so. I told him that if he couldn't find an agreement, then he should call me. When he called again, it was July 8th and he was in London as he'd broken relations with Marseille. He said he wanted to sign for an English club so I said 'come and sign here'".