Current Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has managed to do something previous Gunners manager Arsene Wenger couldn't - secure the signature of Oleksandr Zinchenko.
Though it hasn't officially been announced, the 25-year-old has already been spotted donning Arsenal training gear and was a guest of Gunners technical director Edu for the club's recent pre-season clash with Orlando City in Florida.
The Ukrainian national team captain was hot property back in 2014 while he was playing for Shakhtar Donetsk's youth team, attracting admiration from plenty of European giants - but it was actually Arsenal who were the first to declare their interest.
Then still under the guidance of club legend Wenger, the Gunners youth team met Shakhtar's academy side in a UEFA Youth League fixture where the Frenchman first witnessed Zinchenko's dazzling technical ability. Despite his desire to sign him, it wasn't to be back then as the gifted midfielder-turned-full-back eventually ended up in the sky blue of Manchester City.
Surprisingly, Zinchenko did not make the move to the Eithad directly from Shakhtar and actually enjoyed a two-year spell with Russian outfit Ufa before catching the eye of Pep Guardiola, who at that time had only just arrived at City himself.
After more than half a decade with the club and four Premier League titles later, Zinchenko's time at City has come to an end and eight years after they first inquired about him Arsenal are the club to pry him away from the reigning English champions.
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As a result, Arteta has gone one better than his own former Arsenal boss who came up short when trying to sign a then-teenage Zinchenko many years ago. In 2016, the player's representative Sandor Varga opened up on the Gunners' efforts to Russian newspaper Sovetskiy Sport.
"Two years ago, Arsene Wenger phoned me," Varga recalled. "Zinchenko was 17 then and Shakhtar played Arsenal in the UEFA Youth League. Arsene watched the match and immediately called me, saying: 'I need Zinchenko'.
"[Arsenal] made an offer but there were some problems and then Zinchenko was discovered by a lot of people." There was no shortage of potential suitors this time around either, once it became clear Zinchenko's spell at City was coming to an end.
However, Arteta's already-existing relationship with the former Shakthar man has worked in Arsenal's favour. The duo are familiar with each other from their shared time at City together, during which time Arteta was one of Guardiola's assistant coaches.
The Spaniard has since broken his silence on the imminent deal for Zinchenko and cited his versatility as a large reason behind his signing. "I know the player really well, he's an exceptional footballer and he is someone that is going to bring as well another competitive edge to that dressing room," Arteta explained.
"He can play in both (defence and midfield). He was a natural No. 10 early in his career and we converted him into a left-back, which can do a lot of things that we want in our way of playing.
"That versatility is something that is going to be important for the team because we have players in that position who are more specific full-back so I'm really happy."
