In the summer of 2006 a huge collective sigh of relief was released by the Arsenal faithful as the news filtered through that our then talisman and captain had refused to turn his back on the Gunners and decided against the sunnier climbs of Catalonia. However, during the following season many of us were to rue our relief as a petulant Henry whinged and sulked his way through his final season a shadow of his former self and departed anyway. Although he scored 10 domestic goals in his injury hit season, the flashes of brilliance so evident during his glorious spell with the club were seldom seen. Instead we were treated to on field tantrums & wild gesticulating towards team mates that both shocked and undermined the younger members of the squad, so much so that Cesc and others made reference to playing with more freedom after he had left. I am not sure that the period since would have contained more silverware (obviously one trophy would constitute more) had TH14 have decided to stay beyond that season & I feel that any extended stay may have seen Cesc & several others want to leave the club.

Fast forward to this summer and once again we are caught up in another disgraceful & tasteless display of arrogance by the Catalan club, who's bullying tactics have once again failed to bear fruit despite all of the assistance of their incoming President & current squad members to cajole the Gunners into parting with our most prized asset. But are we once again prematurely feeling the relief of fighting off the unwanted advances of the Rohypnol carrying Spanish giants, are we about to experience TH14 part 2 with Cesc?

Cesc has not help either, he should have moved sooner to squash the rumours but he has obviously upset by Hill-Wood’s comments and has agonised about the move and I'm sure he would have gone had the club accepted the offer. I for one would not blame him as once again we have not brought in the sort of players he deserves to play with and this will serious hamper our challenge for the coming season.

Having now committed himself to the club are we to believe his statement that he is "100% focused on Arsenal" or are we in another painful hiatus until he fulfils his dream move back to his boyhood heroes? More importantly will he be as driven and committed to our cause as we saw last season, forcing us forward, hopefully towards the silverware both he and the supporters deserve? I really hope he puts in the sort of performances we now expect from him and not the kind of childish toy throwing displays that we saw for TH14 in his last season. Let’s hope if he does go next summer it's for a substantial amount of money and that he leaves with our blessings and a Premier League winner’s medal in his pocket.