Rival fans across the country joked, smirked and smugly suggested that there would be no way Mikel Arteta would see through his rebuild process at Arsenal.
He has proved them wrong this season. The failure to win qualification to the Champions League was highlighted as a huge issue, though many saw enough to realise that this was a young Arsenal team on the up. Currently five points clear at the top of the Premier League, the Gunners are smiling down on everybody else below them - bar Manchester City, who are perilously breathing down their necks - but it's a welcome change at the Emirates Stadium.
Mykhaylo Mudryk now seems to be the next big step in the Arsenal revolution. The Shakhtar Donetsk attacker has been in superb form for his club this season, turning heads across Europe in a bid to secure a move away from the Ukrainian champions, with Premier League sides interested in his services. Arsenal and Chelsea remain at the forefront, though it does begin to seem as though the Gunners will secure his signature in the coming weeks.
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As reported by football.london over the festive period, the Gunners saw their opening bid of £55million - including add-ons - rejected. Shakhtar want closer to €100million (£88million) to sell their star player and according to Italian outlet FootMercato, Arsenal have taken a huge step towards reaching an agreement as the report claims the Kroenke family have given sporting director Edu the green light to meet the winger's asking price.
An extravagant fee, some might suggest, but it isn't so much the price that will mean a lot as there is more than meets the eye to a potential deal. The reality of the move is that Arsenal are willing to spend to help Arteta extend the team's run of good form and develop on the early success of this season.
Arteta is hungry to win the Premier League title that has proved elusive for the club in the last 19 years and trophies can only mean one thing for his personal future.
Managers who breed success begin to become the face of the club and ultimately, become a selling point for players who want to play in the most successful league in the world. In essence, they create an aura around themselves without even realising it.
Jurgen Klopp is a prime example of this - in his first full transfer window Liverpool signed players such as Sadio Mane and Joel Matip but they were only accompanied through the door by the likes of Loris Karius, Ragnar Klavan and Georginio Wijnaldum. The latter went on to become a star but his reputation then wasn't anywhere near as high as it was when he left the club.
Compared that to today's Liverpool squad - it is awash with sought-after talents such as Thiago, Cody Gakpo, Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez who are all players who had several suitors.
Arteta has done the same. The signings in his first window weren't particularly inspiring - there were good ones like Thomas Partey and Gabriel but it was a different story for Willian, Pablo Mari and Dani Ceballos.
Arsenal fans can now see the impact that Arteta is having on the club. Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko didn't have to hesitate about jumping ship from the league winners Manchester City despite making a combined 43 league appearances under Pep Guardiola last term.
Of course, with added success comes more revenue. You can make a fairly safe bet that unless Arsenal collapse massively, they will be playing Champions League football next season. The glitz and the glamour of the competition has been lacking from the Emirates Stadium for six years now - and with that return on investment in January, it is no surprise the Kroenke family are willing to put all of their eggs in one basket and trust Arteta further.
It is clear message that Arsenal's owners have complete confidence in Arteta as an elite manager and are willing to back him with big-money deals such as the one being negotiated for Mudryk.
It's happened at other Premier League clubs in recent years. Manchester City have backed Pep Guardiola handsomely but it wasn't until 2021 that they broke the £100million mark for a deal when signing Jack Grealish. At Manchester United Jadon Sancho, Romelu Lukaku, Paul Pogba, Harry Maguire all cost over £70million, and Chelsea agreed huge deals for Lukaku and Wesley Fofana under Thomas Tuchel.
Arteta has never really had that luxury until now. Of course, Arsenal's failure to qualify for the top four has had an impact but you can now see that Arsenal's boardroom is gearing up to have the club competing at the very top again.
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