Diaby is a tall and powerful midfielder and hence, inevitably, being hailed as the "new Vieira". We'll reserve judgement on that until we see him play, it's hardly fair on anyone to expect quite so much... Especially as one of the things Arsenal fans remember most fondly about Vieira is the way that he settled into (and even transformed) the team from the first moment he stepped onto the field. And especially as he's still only 19. But, assuming it's all true, it's certainly a very exciting signing.

A number of other clubs wanted Diaby but he seems to have chosen Arsenal, for the obvious reasons. He has become something of a star in the French U19 side, but hasn't played much so far this season making just 3 starts for Auxerre (managed by former France boss Jacques Santini). Not sure why that is, but it does suggest that we probably shouldn't expect him to walk straight into the first team line-up.

And we possibly shouldn't expect him to walk straight into the squad. Auxerre are keen to hold onto him until the end of the season, either delaying the transfer or borrowing him back from us.

A four-year deal is being mooted, but we'll have to wait and see. A fee of £2m is being mooted, but the chances are it'll be "undisclosed".

Of course, we've heard this kind of story before, and mustn't count our chickens etc. This morning the papers are full of similarly confident stories saying we're on the verge of signing young striker Theo Walcott from Southampton (for something like £15m). But Southampton are said to have have rubbished these stories. The papers could be getting ahead of themselves with the Diaby story as well. Watch this space.