You might remember this stage of the 2019/20 season, the moment when Arsenal had ‘won’ the transfer window, setting themselves up perfectly for a season in which three separate head coaches would shepherd an expensively assembled squad to their worst top flight finish in 25 years.

Arsenal, under the man social media dubbed ‘Don’ Raul Sanllehi, had been ruthless in clearing out the well-paid veterans of past campaigns and had shown ambition that seemed beyond their financial means in signing Nicolas Pepe, Kieran Tierney, David Luiz, William Saliba and Dani Ceballos.

This was a campaign that had begun with Sanllehi being deified by supporters as the master dealmaker but soon saw him vilified for his failure to act as Unai Emery’s season lost momentum despite him having been given an expensively-assembled squad, albeit not the one he wanted.

It is worth remembering that when hailing Arsenal for their work in this elongated window. Indeed it is easy to see the parallels between their recruitment of Nicolas Pepe and yesterday’s dramatic late swoop for Thomas Partey.

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[FILE] Liverpool’s Egyptian midfielder Mohamed Salah (L) runs with the ball as Arsenal’s Brazilian defender Gabriel closes in during the English Premier League football match between Arsenal and Liverpool at the Emirates Stadium in London. (Photo by Catherine Ivill / POOL / AFP)

Both were, in the art of the deal at least, immediately impressive pieces of business. Sanllehi’s relationship with former Barcelona colleague Marc Ingla secured Arsenal a favourable £72million deal that saw a more significant chunk of the fee than usual spread over Pepe’s contract.

Similarly Arsenal were decisive in their pursuit of Partey once talks with Houssem Aouar collapsed. In the space of a few hours they activated his £45million release clause, finalised his personal terms and completed a medical in Madrid.

The Gunners deserve praise for how they have done these major pieces but equally it is too soon to assess how shrewd each of these sizeable investments were. Partey looks to be the midfield presence Arsenal needed but Pepe equally appeared to be the incisive right winger Emery’s side were lacking.

He still might be, there have been brief but promising flashes although they have come alongside games where he has struggled to positively influence the game. It is notable that in year two he is yet to earn Arteta’s confidence as a Premier League starter, although perhaps Pepe was always up against it in Emery’s side.

If you were to ask the former Arsenal head coach why he did not translate this supposedly top tier transfer window into on-field progress it would not take him long to hit on the key points.

The Gunners had cleared out longstanding players from Nacho Monreal to Alex Iwobi, cutting back the wage bill and in the case of the former earning the sort of fee that is hard to turn down. But in moving on eight individual with a combined 45 seasons’ experience in Arsenal colours the club hierarchy left Emery with a squad that asked a lot of recent academy graduates.

Meanwhile those players that Arsenal did sign were not entirely the ones that Emery wanted. Rather than Pepe he favoured Wilfried Zaha. Arteta may win the kudos for bringing Partey time to the Emirates but his predecessor had him top of his midfield wishlist a year before.

It was clear in the early months of that 2019/20 campaign that Emery did not know entirely what to do with the squad Sanllehi had so lavishly assembled for him. Pepe struggled without a dynamic full-back to work with, Luiz was alienated soon after arriving whilst the addition of Ceballos coupled with the manager’s desire to play a 4-3-3 severely damaged the relationships of Granit Xhaka and Lucas Torreira with the club.

In the latter’s case one could argue that the damage was irretrievable with Torreira having fallen from a cornerstone of Arsenal’s long-term midfield plans to someone they were eager to move on this summer.

If it is altogether too soon to assess the entirety of Arsenal’s business this summer – although at such an early stage Gabriel Magalhaes looks a steal at £25million – there are at least signs that they have learned from last year’s mistakes. Above all Arteta has been at the heart of their recruitment.

Gabriel was his first choice centre-back and a player he was directly involved in convincing to join the club. Willian and Partey were other targets favoured by the Spaniard.

His promotion to manager formalised Arteta’s role at the heart of Arsenal’s business but even before that there was an acknowledgement that this individual merited the players he wanted. He felt empowered to publicly call for ambitious backing at a time when COVID-19 was devastating club finances.

Stan Kroenke listened and why would he not when he has already seen players that Arteta did not pick take such great strides under their new manager. If the Arsenal boss can get what he got out of Shkodran Mustafi and other fringe players then imagine what he could get out of his top targets.

Whether they have got the right players will not be clear for some time yet but on this occasion they have trusted the judgement of their manager. After the start he has had, wouldn’t you?

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Related topics: Arsenal Mikel Arteta Thomas Partey