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Football London
Football London
Sport
Tashan Deniran-Alleyne

Arsenal news: Zaha's cryptic tweet, ex-chief's message for Liverpool, transfer blow & Bould era

It's been a week full of news for Arsenal.

The launch of next season's kit kicked off the week as the club's return to adidas was made official and that was followed up by the club's first signing of the summer transfer window.

But while Gabriel Martinelli was saying hello, David Ospina was bidding farewell as his expected permanent transfer to Napoli has officially been made official.

Today marks the first Gunners match of the 2019/2020 pre-season campaign - albeit it's a youthful side facing Boreham Wood but fans will get a chance to see the likes of Xavier Amaechi and Tyreece John-Jules.

Meanwhile, Unai Emery will be plotting plans for the first-team squad as many returned to training yesterday.

Ahead of what could be a busy summer for the club, here's the news emerging from the Emirates Stadium over the last 24 hours.

Suarez fallout

In 2013 when the Gunners were looking to make a big statement in the transfer window following years and years of losing their best players to rival teams, they attempted to sign Luis Suarez from Liverpool.

It seemed a deal was well within the club's reach as Suarez reportedly had a £40m release clause in his contract with the Merseyside giants. Later it came out that wasn't the case but not until after Arsenal's now infamous bid of 40 million plus £1.

That then prompted Liverpool owner John W Henry's hilarious response of "what do you think they're smoking over there at Emirates?

Ex-Arsenal transfer negotiator Dick Law was one of key men involved in that deal and he didn't take too kindly of the situation being blown out of proportion.

"I think John Henry wanted to know what we were smoking, which I thought was a bit disrespectful," he said in an exclusive interview with Goal. "It was him having a bit of a go because he was getting ready to lose his star player. It was a good way to deflect attention."

Read more.

Zaha hint

Wilfried Zaha is at the centre of a transfer tug-of-war between Crystal Palace and Arsenal.

Arsenal are reported to have made an opening bid of £40m for the Ivory Coast international, which falls well below the Eagles' asking price - believed to be in region of £80m.

Amid talk about his future, Zaha has an Africa Cup of Nations round of 16 clash against Mali on Monday to prepare for, although the Ivory Coast international seems focused.

Zaha posted a picture on Twitter, with the caption ‘head in the game.’

Is that in response to the transfer talk surrounding him?

Transfer blow

Arsenal and Unai Emery have suffered a setback in the transfer market.

With Petr Cech retiring at the end of last season, the Gunners were reportedly keen another goalkeeper to provide competition to Bernd Leno.

Markus Schubert was identified, but he's opted to remain in Germany by sealing a move to Schalke.

Furthermore, German outlet SPORT1 claim Schubert cancelled his move to the Emirates in order to sign a four-year deal at the Veltins-Arena with a release clause included.

TV games

The Premier League have announced which games will be moved for TV broadcast in August and September.

This means the first north London derby of the season has a new date.

Here are the Arsenal matches affected.

The Steve Bould era

Freddie Ljungberg's promotion to join Unai Emery's first-team staff at Arsenal has resulted in a return to Academy football for Steve Bould.

The former Gunners defender was number two to Arsene Wenger for many years and held a similar position under Emery last season.

But it's all change ahead of the new campaign.

Steve Bould during the Arsenal U23 Training Session at London Colney (David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)

Read here for how the The Steve Bould era as Arsenal youth boss has begun.

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