Flamini close to signing with Crystal Palace

So what do you do when you miss out on a loan deal for Jack Wilshere? Why you snap up Arsenal’s other highly emotional, out-of-favour-as-much-as-position and oddly popular midfielder. That’s what.

Apparently, Crystal Palace are closing in on signing everyone’s favourite footballing energy mogul Mathieu Flamini after he underwent a medial today. Despite the window being closed, Crystal Palace felt a need to fill the empty space on their 25 man roster and snapped up Flamini, who had been released by Arsenal this summer.

Although his game has declined sharply since leaving Arsenal the first time (despite a brief window of need in 2012 where he was, at best, cromulent), Flamini boasts a track record of being capable of playing multiple positions (I won’t say well), making him a versatile option when injuries plague a roster. He also has the delightful ability to show up and do this every so often... hopefully, against Tottenham, again.

At 32 years old, he’s entering the last few years of his career but, Alan Pardrew? He cares not for your ageism:

‘I like the fact whenever he played, he played in the big, big games at Arsenal when they needed someone to kind of lead the team over the line and get big results,' Pardew added.

'Mathieu's name was always on [our] list. I have always admired what he's done, so I am looking at him.

'His age, 32, in my mind I signed Teddy Sheringham when he was 38, so the age isn't a problem for me. I think his experience is something I am looking at, yes.'

'We do face strong competition for him, but mainly from clubs who have got a much higher profile than us. It could well be a situation like Jack Wilshere, where we are in there but don't get it over the line.'

That’s pretty positive outlook but he’s surprised us before. Looking forward to Arsenal exploiting the huge holes you leave in the midfield, Mathieu.