If you’d said a year ago that Flamini and Hleb were leaving, no-one would’ve cared

It is interesting to see how perceptions of players changes with time. Flamini has just completed his fourth season at the club, the first as a regular, having come close to signing for Birmingham last summer. Hleb, meanwhile, has now been at Arsenal for three years, and even this, his best season, only produced a handful of goals, and still the same old frustration.

Exactly one year ago, Gooners everywhere were waving Flamini off as a player who was big hearted but never quite made it. At the same time, they were desperately hoping Wenger would offload the infuriating Hleb, with his