Having him leave for a while to continue his development is one thing, but I'm sure most Arsenal fans are hoping that Pennant will become a first team player before long. So it's a little worrying to hear Leeds chairman John McKenzie quoted as saying, "although no commitment has been made yet with Arsenal it opens up the possibility of a permanent move later on."

Let's hope that's just wishful thinking on Leeds' part. Pennant becomes the second Arsenal youngster to join another Premiership club on loan this season, Moritz Volz having gone to Fulham. There has been talk of Everton trying to borrow Franny Jeffers too. All this did puzzle us, because we thought loans between Premiership clubs weren't allowed. But this Arsenal.com story where Wenger said Pennant might go on loan says there has been "a relaxation of the rules".

Regarding the Jeffers situation, the BBC are reporting that a deal is close. Apparently Everton want a season-long loan with a view to a permanent move, but Arsenal want to sell. They also say that "Jeffers has already indicated both publicly and privately that he would jump at the chance to re-join Everton", and David Moyes is quoted as saying, "All I can say is that our deputy chairman Bill Kenwright and Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein are very good friends, but our budget is very limited."