"What is important is that Cesc has a great World Cup and that he comes back to Arsenal with a great desire to do well for the club. We want to keep our best players - that's my huge determination - I built this team for years from 16 and 17 years of age with most of the players.
"We want to continue to work with them because we feel we are very close, and strengthen the team in a very strong way."
He also made these comments about Joe Cole:
"I like him as a player because when he played against us he always did a lot of damag. He can create impact through his creative play. He can dribble, he can pass, he can score goals."
Of course none of this means that either a). Cesc will stay, or b) Cole will arrive - we'll have to wait at least a month until after the world cup is over. The rumour mill may continue to work but for sure nothing will happen for a while yet, so we might as well forget signings and just hope that none of our lads pick up injuries playing for their countries.