No surprises on deadline day, more's the pity

So that's the transfer season closed for another four months. And quite frankly, I'm very disappointed, and for possibly the first time I think that Arsene has made a miscalculation on what we need, and a major cock up.

We ended our transfer dealings with four signings proper - Tomas Rosicky, Julio Baptista (on loan with a view to a permanent deal), William Gallas and Denilson (read the bottom).

We ended our transfer dealings losing six players proper - Dennis Bergkamp, Sol Campbell, Ashley Cole, Robert Pires, Pascal Cygan, Jose Antonio Reyes (I am not including any player that has left on loan other than Reyes as they are all youth players on temporary deals, whereas Reyes' move is likely to become permanent).

Quite frankly that is not good enough. That is not nearly good enough when you look at the experience we have lost from an already inexperienced, young side. This Denilson could turn out to be the best defensive midfielder in the world, but he certainly won't be for another four or five years, and looks to be an identical type of signing as Diaby and Alexandre Song (let's pray Denilson is better than Alexandre Song).

Deadline day brought the conclusion of the most tedious transfer deal in history, that of Cashley Cole to Chelsea. We got William Gallas and £5 million. Quite frankly I think we've been screwed. Wasn't this the same deal Chelsea allegedly proposed a week ago and we turned down outright?

Now don't get me wrong, I think that Gallas is a fantastic player, but he was in the last year of his contract and cannot claim to be the best player in his position in world football. Mr Tweedy had two years on his contract and is the best player in the world in his position. So we get a £5 million readjustment? It should have been double that. This deal has been fucked up by Double D and the board from the beginning and I'm disappointed in all involved.

Reyes has, alledgedly, moved to Real Madrid, with Baptista moving in the other direction, on loan with a view to a permanent deal. I don't understand this move at all. We have so many forwards we don't what to do with them, with Lupoli and Bendtner to return as well, and he's not the type of centre midfield player we need. Then there's the fact that he looked appalling at Real last year.

No-one's going to shed any tears over Cygan leaving, and Gallas seems to fill that whole to bring us back up to four centre halves, but Gallas will also, I imagine, be covering left back until Clichy is fit again. Given that one of the main reasons Gallas wanted to leave Chelsea, and in doing so take a huge pay cut, was that he didn't want to be played at left back anymore. So this makes little sense. It also means that Senderos is now third choice centre half when everyone's fit, and Djourou, who I don't think has done badly since coming into the side, is pushed back to fourth choice.

Add to all of this the fact that Tevez (who I can easily live without) and Mascherano (who I desperately, desperately wanted to come to Arsenal, and who Wenger has almost bought about five times now) have moved to West Ham and it's all ridiculously depressing.

That said, the above transfer deal is sunk deep in conspiracy theories and dodgy dealings involving both MSI, who control Corinthians, count a certain Russian billionaire as a key decision maker (although there are no legal ties) and have tried to buy West Ham in the past. Rumours abound that MSI are either shunting all their top players to West Ham on the cheap before launching another takeover bid, or that a certain Russian billionaire is using West Ham to keep Chelsea's future targets warm and stop their rivals, both European and domestic, from acquiring them.

If either is true then we really are living in a new era of football, and it really worries me that the game is headed down this road. The fact that West Ham are refusing to release ANY specifics about the deal at all is a further worry, and quite unlike West Ham who revealed all and sundry when they bought Dean Ashton for a very well-publicised club record fee of £7.5 million.

Don't get me wrong, I hold no ill will regarding West Ham and their good fortune. If it turns out to all be above board I'll be the first to congratulate them on what is quite frankly the transfer coup of the century. We'll have to wait and see whether it is though.

But all in all I'm a bit pissed off, and honestly worried about how we'll do this season. It is now clear that this is going to be a second year in transition, which really isn't acceptable. Of course if we end up storming the league and get our hands on that elusive Champions League trophy I'll take it all back, but I now doubt it very highly.

Thierry, who stayed not only because he loves the club but also because he was convinced of the club's ambition moving forward, must feel like he's been mugged.