Arsenal announce Mathieu Flamini re-signing

Former Arsenal midfielder Mathieu Flamini has returned to the team officially, after a stint at AC Milan. According to a report (well, a tweet) from Jamie Sanderson it's a three-year deal on £50k/week, which seems like a relatively reasonable contract and less than the £75k/week it was rumored he was after. As he was out of contract at Milan, the deal is a free transfer.

In addition to midfield, Flamini has deputized at fullback in the past, so he gives the team some versatility. Which with all the injuries we've had lately, that's probably a big, big selling point. There's no word yet on whether or not he can play on the left wing. Or at striker. But he's a player, and a pretty good one.

Also, I guess I was wrong. For one, I'm at least relatively pleased that's the case. This makes Arsenal 2-for-4 in situations I can remember where a player has trained with the team in a situation like this, and then ended up signing. Thierry Henry did it, now Flamini has. Robert Pires and David Beckham have both trained here in the past and "failed" to sign. So I guess the next time someone we've heard of starts training with the team, heads means he'll sign, tails means he won't.

EDIT: @Arsenal just announced Flamini's shirt number.

We can exclusively reveal that Mathieu Flamini's shirt number at #Arsenal will be... pic.twitter.com/wmoVazWHt2

— Arsenal.com (@Arsenal) August 29, 2013