Hughes's departure was extremely controversial among Arsenal fans, many of them had hopes of the left-footed midfielder being the "new Liam Brady", and English at that. But he became frustrated at the lack of opportunities in Arsenal's star-studded midfield, and he never quite did enough on the pitch when he did get a chance.

After starting his Goodison career 15 months ago with 10 successive starts, and playing well in them too, it all went pear-shaped. Walter Smith has rebuilt his midfield and Hughes never seems to have been thought of as part of that. He only got 16 starts last season, the last one being in February. Southampton are being linked with him now.

In truth, it's extremely rare for a player to be allowed to leave by Arsenal and go on to prove them wrong. It's interesting to look at our new ex-players section and see how many of those young players, whose departure many of us will have lamented at the time, have slipped into obscurity. Let's hope for better than that for Stephen.

Walt writes to remind us of something Alex Nyarko said in a Guardian interview a couple of weeks after the infamous shirt-swapping incident at Highbury. "Nyarko talked of the 'poisonous atmosphere in the dressing room'. He claimed it wasn't only him who had problems with Walter Smith and his staff. He claimed in the interview that Hughes and Smith's assistant (who's name I can never recall) came to blows in the dressing room during one argument!"