Arsenal's decision-making on and off the pitch is starting to pay dividends.
The Gunners largely dismantled their scouting department in 2020 with head of international recruitment Francis Cagigao and senior scouts in Germany, Spain, Italy and France all leaving the club.
Technical director Edu recruited the man who brought the likes of Neymar and Philippe Coutinho to Europe for the first time - Toni Lima, a former Andorra international who is the most-capped player for his country, who had previously worked at the likes of Manchester United, Inter Milan and the Brazil Football Federation.
Lima officially started his role in July which will focus on the Spanish market, and will report to Edu, whom he knows from his time in Brazil.
football.london also revealed that Romain Poirot had been appointed as first team scout with a particular focus on the French football market.
Poirot started as a full-time academy scout at Nottingham Forest in 2008, before joining Manchester City two years later where he worked his way up from academy scout to European Football Consultant.
Another scout was added to the department earlier in the summer after James Ellis joined from Fulham.
Ellis was first team scout at the Cottagers for the UK and Europe and his role at Emirates Stadium is be domestically based.
And those changes and the work put in behind the scenes is bearing fruit on the pitch, with the Gunners set fair in fourth place in the Premier League and on course for Champions League qualification for the first time in five years.
Interestingly, a 2017 prediction from Spanish news daily Marca shows that Arsenal have got it right with their recruitment in recent years.
The Spanish outlet tipped 11 teenagers for stardom almost six years ago, with the likes of Paris Saint-Germain star Kylian Mbappe and Italy shot stopper Gianluigi Donnarumma featuring in the line-up.
However, it is Kieran Tierney's inclusion in the team alongside summer signing Martin Odegaard that emphasise just how impressively Arsenal have done with their business since Edu and Arteta arrived at the club.
Not only that, but Arsenal have also been heavily linked with three other plays in the starting XI, with Ruben Neves, Youri Tielemans and Renato Sanches making up the midfield.
Neves was targeted by Arteta last summer as the club scouted a possible replacement for Granit Xhaka who was close to joining Roma.
Tielemans is being looked at ahead of a potential summer move with the Leicester star keen on finding a new challenge, while Sanches is a long-term target.
It seems Arsenal knew what Marca knew back then. If only Mbappe had joined Arsene Wenger back in 2017...
