Chelsea call Arsene's bluff, but Arsene's not bluffing

Chelsea announced last night that the Ashley Cole deal is off because Arsenal's valuation is too high, and we have turned down their bid which they are now claiming will not be raised. That bid is believed to be in the region of £20m, whilst we are looking at a figure closer to £25m.

It really is laughable that club like Chelsea, who can spend whatever they like on their acquisitions, are quibbling over the cost of the best left back in the world. Look at the money they have paid for SWP, Essien and Drogba (not counting the reasonably-priced Schevchenko). They spent £23m plus on all three of these players, all of whom are not world class and have failed to live up to their billing upon arrival at Stamford Bridge.

I guarantee you that if Cole played for Marseille or Manchester City or any club that isn't a major competitor of Chelsea (or hadn't been caught and reprimanded for tapping Cashley up) then they wouldn't blink an eyelid about paying £20m plus for Cole. They truly are a bunch of bastards. Anyway, we have his contract, we're in command of the situation (whatever they believe) and Mr Tweedy will stay put if our valuation isn't met.

The Guardian reports that Real Madrid sporting director Predrag Mijatovic arrived in London last night to meet with Double D over the signature of Jose Antonio Reyes. I think we can all now agree that the Reyes is off and that the rebuttals on Arsenal.com were the rubbish we all thought them to be at the time. Rumours abound regarding the price, but I don't think we'd be prepared to take a loss on him, so it'll have to be around the £13m mark.

Theo Walcott has been called up to the England U21 side. Whilst some people are viewing this as a snub by Steve Mclaren who is trying to distance himself from Sven's decision to call him up to the senior side over the summer, I don't think anyone's surprised, considering the total lack of football Walcott played at the World Cup. The U21 side is where he should be right now and I'm sure he accepts that and is not at home crying his eyes out in his brand spanking new Superman Returns pyjamas.

Nicklas Bendtner, Seb Larsson and Fabrice Muamba all started for Birmingham last night as they beat Sunderland 1-0 at the Stadium of Light. Blues boss and all-around backstabbing twat Steve Bruce gave all three a glowing appraisal following the game, with Bendtner looking particularly impressive.

Fabregas says he's happy at Arsenal. We're happy to have you.