The press are playing this whole story up as if Kaka has decided that money isn’t everything and that that’s why he’s staying with AC Milan. Well, I call bullshit. To a certain extent, yes… money isn’t everything. Otherwise, the deal would have been done. But, I also believe that had that same offer come from Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea or any other big European team who is not about to become embroiled in one hell of a mighty relegation battle, well… then he’d already be in new strip. And, please... if money weren’t a factor and football loyalty was what drove him, he’d still be in Brazil. Let’s not forget that the man didn’t grow up on the mean streets of Milan. There’s also a story floating around that it was actually City who withdrew the offer, and that it wasn’t a rejection by Kaka. Either way, Kaka and his people are spinning it like he’s taking the high road.

So, this has all led to speculation that Sheikh Satan will swoop in at the last moment and steal Andrei Arshavin out from under our grubby talons. I suppose it is possible. If the Abu Dhabinians were willing to nearly triple the previous transfer record to land Kaka, I can’t imagine they wouldn’t have the rocks to top our paltry £13 million offer with another £10 million or so. But, will Arshavin want to go to City? If an offer comes, he certainly has the right to tell us “Hey, Arsenal… I vant to play for you, but can you at least match offer from reech oil man?” Which may cause us to actually open the checkbook, although somehow I doubt it. Especially in light of the fact that we’ve now turned down an opportunity to go to Russia to talk to Zenit officials. Is he really worth all this at 27 years of age?  He can’t play in the Champions League for us this season, so he can only help domestically. Great, now I’ve got a mental image of him in an apron tidying up.

In other news, Tomas Rosicky tells us he’s still not fit. Thanks… for that. William Gallas says he’s going to see out his remaining contract with Arsenal for the next two years. How do you type that sort of internal snort noise you make when something strikes you funny but you don’t want to laugh out loud? Well, I just did that. It went like this: “Gallas is staying.“  ghrntrnt “Right.” And lastly, I am still awaiting an offer from Sheikh Mansour for £50 million to write nice things about Manchester City. I have granted myself permission to speak with City agents and await their call.

Next up, away to Cardiff for the FA Cup. We won’t have Gael Clichy since he’s on five yellows, but I’m thinking a bit of sit might do him some good about now. I think Mikael Silvestre is back, so it will be interesting to see what our back line looks like for this one. I probably won’t write up a  preview for this one, since I know about as much about Cardiff as I know about particle accelerators. Come to think of it… less. So, the Scurvy Prognostication of The Match is:

Cardiff 0-1 Arsenal

Yes, we grind out another hard fought one-nil victory on the road to dash Welsh hopes of a return to the FA Cup final. We shall do this thing for Tony Adams, whose nose gets larger with each subsequent viewing. How does he do that? Tony is keen to keep his hopes of returning to the Finals when his club meet the venerable Swansea City this weekend.