As the transfer window closed almost a week ago, spare a thought for the papers who are desperate for gossip to fill their papers lest they have to report real football news.

Of course, it comes as no surprise that they have turned their attentions to the biggest two players at Arsenal and the fact that they are out of contract in two years. PANIC!

Mesut Ozil has already said that he asked Arsenal to set aside contract talks while he was at the Euros while it isn’t beyond the realms of imagination to think that Alexis did the same while he was busy winning Copa America.

Neither player has ever expressed unhappiness, or even hinted at it. Indeed, Ozil has just said how happy he is at Arsenal (he used two ‘verys’) and pointed out that if he hasn’t stayed longer than three years at any other club, the fact he’s entering his fourth with Arsenal must surely mean something, eh?

But that’s not enough for some. People want them both demanding massive buy-out clauses and wages far in excess of anything any football journalist who has spent even five minutes in the game knows is way outside Arsenal’s, admittedly now flexible, cap.

There will be many stories between now and when the duo eventually sign their new deals, and I’ve no doubt that they both will.

Between then and now we will hear a lot of nonsense and you can rest assured that 99.9% of it will be from somebody’s imagination – be it a ‘reporter’ or agent.

This is merely the start of it.