WHO WILL BE NEXT SEASON'S REVELATION FOR ARSENAL?

Three years ago Cesc Fabregas burst into the first team to make the central midfield berth his own in the wake of Patrick Vieira's transfer to Juventus. Two years ago it was the turn of Robin van Persie and Alexander Hleb to claim the accolade of most improved player. And last year, well it was a bumper year, as you could argue that Gael Clichy, Bacary Sagna, Emmanuel Adebayor, Mathieu Flamini and even Theo Walcott took giant steps forward in their game.

So who will it be next season?

While I'm hoping that all Arsenal's players improve their game, I reckon that the players who will shine most will be among the newest additions to the team.

I expect great things of Carlos Vela and Samir Nasri, although I'm aware that it will take them time to adjust to the pace and hard tackling of the Premier League. Up front I'm hoping that Walcott can start increasing his accuracy in front of goal, while Nicklas Bendtner could also be one to watch, even though I suspect he'll be an even bigger prima donna than Adebayor if he can notch up an impressive number of goals.

It'll be interesting to see where Arsene Wenger plays Alexandre Song this season, as I believe the Cameroon international could truly be great, while Abou Diaby falls into the same camp, but I have to admit that I've been a bit disappointed by Diaby so far, though I realise that he's been played out of position. And staying in midfield, it'll be interesting to see how often Denilson is used in the forthcoming campaign. If he can't establish himself as a regular in the first team, then I reckon he could move on to pastures new.

And then there are our youth players. New signing Aaron Ramsey has been dubbed as the new Steven Gerrard, so it'll be good to see him get some time on the pitch. Kieran Gibbs and Mark Randall have both returned from successful loan spells, while Jay Simpson was voted PFA player of the year for League One thanks to a great season at Millwall.

But the players I'd most like to see getting some experience in the first team - most likely as substitutes - are Fran Merida, Havard Nordveit, Armand Traore, Henri Lansbury, Rhys Murphy and the ridiculously talented Jack Wilshere. I'm guessing Carling Cup appearances will offer them their best chance to impress.

Lastly, it would be good to see our more fragile players getting a decent injury-free run. By that, of course, I mean Robin van Persie and Tomas Rosicky (remember him?).

But the player I'm backing above all the rest is our Crozilian striker Eduardo. The 25-year-old looks like he'll make a full recovery from the horrific leg injury he suffered in February and he is astounding medical experts by the speed in which he's progressing. A dozen goals last season - where if you'll remember he also missed the first part of the campaign through injury - was a decent haul, but if he can get match fit and avoid injury, I don't think he'll miss as many chances as our top scorer Adebayor tends to.

I'll be putting on a bet that Dudu becomes our top scorer this season and at 14-1 for finishing top scorer in the Premier League, I reckon that's worth a punt too.

That's quite a list of players I want to see wowing us Gooners this season and I've no doubt that one or two will firmly establish their credentials as first team regulars.

But what do you lot think? Who do you reckon will be in contention for most improved player at the end of the 2008/09 season? Share your thoughts here using our comments section below this post. 

FLAMINI GONE, GILBERTO GOING: DO WE NEED TO MAKE DEFENSIVE MIDFIELD A PRIORITY?

The Sun is reporting that Brazilian skipper Gilberto has agreed to join Greek club Panathinaikos for a nominal fee of about £1 million.

The story, if true, means that the 31-year-old - Arsenal's most experienced player - will bid farewell to north London after six years at the club and will leave many Gooners wondering exectly who will take up the defensive midfield role next season given that Mathieu Flamini has also departed.

The Sun claim Arsenal's acting managing director Ken Friar has confirmed the deal.

 "We have agreed to the transfer and signed the papers. It is now an official agreement," the newspaper quoted Friar as saying. "We had other offers but we respected Gilberto's desire to sign for Panathinaikos."

So who will take up the vital defensive midfield role? 

Wenger has often spoken of the need for older players to move on so that younger players can get their chance, so within the current squad, Arsene has options such as Abou Diaby, Denilson, Alexandre Song and new signing Aaron Ramsey to choose from. There have also been hints that Kolo Toure could make a move to midfield. But ideally there should be a minimum of two strong players who can compete for the Flamini/Gilberto role and in my opinion Arsenal don't really have that luxury at the moment.

So my solution would be to sign a new player - someone who has many years ahead of him, but who also has the experience to slot straight in to do the job. Gareth Barry is a name that is being bandied around freely at the moment, but while I think the 27-year-old Aston Villa captain would do a good job for the Gunners, at £20 million, he's far too expensive for Wenger.

My personal choice would be Yaya Toure. He's already expressed a desire to play alongside his big brother Kolo, he's an experienced international, he's only 25 and he'd potentially come at a good price if Wenger could negotiate with Barcelona into including Yaya as part of an exchange deal for Alex Hleb.

Another potential would be German international Torsten Frings, who was one of the most impressive players during this summer's Euro 2008 tournament, but at 31-years-old he's a bit over the hill.

The frustrating thing is that had Arsenal retained the services of Lassana Diarra, he'd find himself in contention for a first team start now, but there's no point crying over spilled milk.

Anyway, what are your thoughts on the gaping midfield vacany? Should we rely on the existing players at the club and promote one of the youth players, such as Henri Lansbury, Jack Wilshere, Fran Merida or James Dunne, to be a back up? Or should Arsene Wenger get his cheque book out and bring some new talent to the club? Share your thoughts using our comments section below.

Is playing for The Arsenal enough anymore?

I've never been obsessed by Arsenal having English players in the squad.

True, we provided a record seven players in the England team who faced Italy at Highbury in 1934 - but we were also the first English club to field an entirely foreign squad for a game and got chastised by the jingoists for doing so.

But when you look at what has happened since Arsene Wenger started trying to develop more English players, you can see why he sticks to overseas talent - and it's not just down to transfer fees.

Ashley Cole, who should have become Arsenal captain, who should have been as long-standing a player for us as David O'Leary or Tony Adams, chased the money and ran, and I won't do him the service of dragging that affair up here again.

Sol Campbell, great player though he was for a number of years, went AWOL; Jermaine Pennant got into too many scrapes; Francis Jeffers continually disappointed; Richard Wright believed he was better than he is; David Bentley thought he was David Beckham before he'd got a dozen games under his belt...

Their attitude was all wrong.

But the problem lies in the reputation of the club, especially with the lack of stability we have had in the past few years.

We simply cannot expect overseas players to revere the club or understand its place in English football in the same way as those who have been brought up in England, who are more likely to understand that, of all the big clubs, we have been the most consistent, with 89 unbroken years in the top flight.

In order to entice players, the club has to pay decent salaries that will help to convince talent that Emirates is the place to be.

Of course, we cannot complete with the lottery figures Chavski can spend, but even so, we need to ditch this reputation of being poor payers.

Safe Hands, aka David Seaman, warned the club yesterday that things could get tricky if the wage structure doesn't change.

He said: "You knew that you could get better money elsewhere but you were playing for Arsenal. As players you accepted that.

"The wage structure's always been like that at Arsenal. Now a lot of them seem to be going for the money because they're not winning things."

Coming on the day that director Danny Fiszman defended ticket price rises, there's a fine line between trusting Wenger and the board and wondering if we've got any chance of winning something next season.