Manchester City came in with a second offer of £55m, plus £5m in add-ons – but it came down to Arsenal being able to sign a new attacking player.

Quite simply, they look to have run out of time on that front. They wanted Lemar, and Monaco demanded that they pay 100m euros for him, which Arsenal indicated they were willing to do. But there appeared to be insufficient time for Arsenal to agree a package with Lemar, particularly as he is in the France squad for this evening’s game against Holland – which kicks off in about 2 hours.

Were Arsenal able to get Lemar, they would have been inclined to take the £60m from City for Sanchez. But it is unlikely to happen now.

Why did they wait until the deadline day to hammer all this out is what I don't understand. Maybe they didn't. Now they'll end up without either by this time next year.

but let's not fool ourselves into thinking the ship is well run.

Why would Lemar want to go to Arsenal when he could just stay at Monaco and play in the UCL? The same opportunities will be there for him in January. Particularly, Arsenal - if Sanchez's presence doesn't bring down the locker room, Lemar would have a chance to see if Arsenal are able to right the ship for next year.

last night after doing homework and immediately launched into a 10 minute monologue of how Arsenal has dropped the ball, has not spent money like they said they would, etc. He's bummed about the state of affairs, especially after seeing Sunday's game at Anfield.

for those who will be routinely abused by Kelly/Swarbrick & Wenger/Kroenke.

I have already mailed out apology cards to anyone in my life.

As you well know, Arsenal is always a day late and/or a dollar short by design.