Dmitri Medvedev is 42 years old and likely to be Russia's next President when ‘elections’ are held next March. As Medvedev has been endorsed by Putin he should be a shoe-in come March.

And what has this to do with Arsenal?

It is widely believed that Alisher Usmanov bought his stake in Arsenal for purely ‘political reasons’ as he has no apparent interest in Arsenal, football or even making a fast buck out of the club. He has bundles already. His £35m purchase of a whole art sale at Sothebys early this year, as a "gift for the nation" as well as his buying of the copyright to some classic Soviet era cartoons shows you how much he wants to buy favours.

Smarter observers than myself are clear that his £150m investment in Arsenal (so far!) was partly to raise his international profile and make him ‘untouchable’ from the Russian authorities if the wind started to blow the other way. With a close Putin ally set to take over the reigns (with Putin still holding them?) then maybe ‘Jabba’ is safe for a while. Medvedev is also chairman of gas giant Gazprom where Usmanov is the Mr Big of its holding company so one assumes they can work together.

Maybe all speculation and we will have to get used to Usmanov being the fattest but only second largest shareholder of Arsenal.