Also, I want to mention the effect of leaks on the impression given of the club. I am not sure that people would feel unhappy about Arsenal's transfer negotiations if they weren't played out so publicly. There is undoubtedly a narrative in the press that we can't get deals over the line that I think is a bit unfair, given (1) we are compared to competitors for whom money is simply no object, and (2) there are few clubs who have been as successful with transfers for the past year and a half.

Make no mistake, the leaks don't come from Arsenal. We may be to blame for pissing Shaktar off (and who doesn't tap up players these days?), but they were delighted to play us out in public, and Brighton stood to gain by pushing up the value of a player in full view of a feverish deadline day press pack that still, in part, wants to see us fail.

We have all seen how Edu's preferred approach is for signings to happen without fanfare. If stories of our January 'failures' had come out after the business we have done, I'm not so sure that the club would be regarded as failing the window.