Le Boss continues to deny any "frustration" at his lack of (incoming) activity in the transfer market, saying, "No I wouldn't use that word. The only problem could arise if I find the exception - the player everybody wants in the world - and I don't have the money to buy him. Then it's frustrating. But that was not the case. I was not on any trail at all." And why would you be?

Having said all that, Wenger does admit that he's interested in Gareth Bale, :Southampton's highly-rated left back. Not enough to have wanted to buy him now, but enough to be glad that the player didn't move anywhere else in the transfer window. But as has been said before, Bale is good but will be overpriced through hype and Britishness. Maybe we're just trying to build the price up a bit for Chelsea or Manchester United.

So, what of the departures?

We've had Joe O'Cearuill extend his loan at Brighton (no I don't know, either) and Nicklas Bendtner extend his at Birmingham. With Robin van Persie likely to be out for the season we the latter could be the one gamble of this transfer window. If we lose a couple more strikers then we could be rueing not bringing Bendtner back.

Alexandre Song joins the loan brigade, going to Charlton Athletic for the rest of the season. Fabrice Muamba (Birmingham), Arturo Lupoli (Derby County) and Kerrea Gilbert (Cardiff) were all already loaned till the summer. Muamba has been talking about maybe staying at St Andrews, and Lupoli has been talking about probably going back to Italy (assuming that Italian football still exists in the summer, which isn't looking 100% certain).

As for proper permanent transfers: it's all good. We got £2million for Athony_Stokes departure to Sunderland. Obviously he's one that might come back to haunt us but scoring a load of goals against lesser Scottish sides doesn't stop him being unproven, so it's good business.

Sebastian Larsson, who always gave 100% and had some decent games for us without ever looking likely to get a regular first team bench spot, the third of our players loaned to Birmingham, has made the move permanent in a deal said to be worth a million. Good luck to him. And to Birmingham themselves who made us another £1.5 million this week when they sold Matthew Upson to West Ham United for £7.5m. We let them have him for just a million, and had this sell-on kick-back clause included in the deal. Nice one. Can't help feeling it's not a good deal for Matty in footballing terms, as the Irons and the Blues are likely to pass each other in opposite directions in the summer. Still, he's been wanting out of City for a while now apparently, and I guess Noggin the Nog's paying him a load more money.

And then of course there's the one that we will miss because of his exploits and successes over the years, though not necessarily on the pitch if Emmanuel Eboue and Justin Hoyte continue as they have been. Lauren got a move to Portsmouth, which like Birmingham is turning into a home for ex-Gunners. Pompey's are a bit more illustrious though.

The one that didn't get away is Jeremie Aliadiere. Arsene Wenger has admitted that Aliadiere could well have gone to this weekend's opponents Middlesbrough,if it hadn't been for Robin van Persie's nasty injury.

As for the future, Wenger also admits that Jens Lehmann could leave in the summer.

"I do not know if he will stay," Wenger said on Friday, "I had a little meeting with him but at the moment we have to sit down again to decide about it. Ideally I would like him to stay. But he will not get more than one year. But what can change is somebody can offer him three years. He can sign for someone else. That's a risk I take. We have three top goalkeepers here and I would like to settle it before the summer."

Our third top goalkeeper is, presumably, Mart Poom. He certainly used to be a top keeper but it's hard to see how anyone could know that he still is. He hasn't played since joining us (*see below). Manuel Almunia's looking alright, of course, but there's no doubt that the quotes will open the floodgates to "Arsenal signing new goalkeeper" rumours. Buffon's the obvious one. Like I said, his whole sport in Italy could be up in smoke soon.

Wenger adds that Lehmann's decision won't affect whether he gets picked or not. If Almunia continues to play this well, then I find that hard to believe. If it's a toss-up between 2 players on form, surely there's nothing wrong with letting the fact that one of them's staying and the other isn't be a factor in team selection?

Rupe adds...
Risto writes to remind us that Mart Poom has in fact played half a game for Arsenal, in the 1-0 League Cup win over Everton on 8th November 2006. I think the point I made above is still valid, but thanks for the correction.