After the 4-1 Europa League final loss to Chelsea in 2019, the post-Wenger era was in tatters. Then Arsenal manager Unai Emery looked like a man resigned to his own fate and many of us felt that his enforced departure was inevitable from the final whistle in Baku. On 29 November 2019, following a winless run of seven games and a string of lacklustre performances, Emery was sacked as fan pressure mounted on the club’s owners.

Behind the scenes, it was as much of a mess as it ever was, Ivan Gazidis, the person that set Arsenal on the path of mediocrity, had been replaced by the equally inept Sanllehi and Sven Mislintat, the man tasked with recruitment, was made superfluous by the then Head of Football for the club.

That failure meant that Arsenal had to start over again and this time, they went back to the name that was considered before Emery, former player and club captain Mikel Arteta. Vinai Venkatesham was made Head of Football with Edu Gaspar already appointed as Technical director by the doomed Sanllehi.

Arteta would arrive as head coach but, in a short time, would become a traditional-sounding manager, with everything that promotion entails. The power triangle was now in place and although there would be another two appointments to the board, the more important appointments were made at a coaching level by the Spaniard such as Steve Round and Albert Stuivenberg.

Edu and Arteta, part of Arsenal’s past under Wenger, were now tasked with a complete overhaul of the club including a redefined recruitment plan. Instead of experienced players in the final stages of their career, Arteta and Edu wanted to combine emerging academy talent with young imports.

It was a complete 360 at a crucial time for the club and one failure in the recruitment process could have undermined the entire project. Arteta and Edu had also decided that technical skill wouldn’t be their only consideration. They would look at character traits, personality, ambition and desire, to mould a new spirit and create a new and exciting DNA.

Football insiders weren’t particularly impressed by the blueprint, but the manager and his technical director convinced the owners to invest heavily, even amid a pandemic and the resulting uncertainty for the future of the game.

The recommencement of football with spectators saw Arsenal flounder against newly-promoted Brentford, Chelsea and Manchester City as Arsenal worked on transfer deals. They were rooted to the foot of the table with no wins, no points and no goals, yet that didn’t hinder them in the acquisition of their transfer targets.

Perhaps, the most prized signature was that of the highly-rated Martin Odegaard from Real Madrid. That appointment would transmit as a statement of the club’s intent, with a typically creative and intelligent Arsenal player in the mould of Fabregas, Ozil, Bergkamp and Cazorla.

Many were surprised that Odegaard even considered swapping La Liga for the Premier League, but the new and emerging philosophy and projection of the club’s future was a major attraction. Having already been on loan, Odegaard was aware of the talent on the fringes, filtering through the Hale End, but he also had the belief on Arteta which would ultimately seal the deal for a laughable £30m.

Only describable as the best summer transfer window in recent Arsenal history, Ramsdale, White, Tomiyasu, Lokonga and Tavares joined the Norwegian and suddenly, there was a growing belief that fans were witnessing something fresh and exciting, a combination of talents that would redefine the club.

Arteta must have doubted himself at times, caught in the crossfire of club versus Ozil and then only to repeat the process with Aubamyang. Nothing about the Arsenal job has been easy, Arteta has been learning at the sharp end with multiple problems to navigate including Covid and the implementation of his much documented ‘non-negotiables’.

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Amid all this chaos and upheaval, it was announced that Amazon Prime were to make a documentary of the campaign which could have been a spectacular mistake but with the new recruits in place, an upturn in results and a reunion with its own football DNA, Arteta and Arsenal appear to have turned a substantial corner.

He has to dip into the transfer market again to consolidate for the possibility of domestic and European competition but things look to have progressed significantly. The recent result against Manchester City at the Emirates saw an Arsenal side able to match the Premier League champions for firepower and but for a bout of indiscipline, Arsenal may well have taken all three points, suggesting that the North London club could be on terms in a season or so.

Arteta isn’t in the mood to settle for a fleeting upsurge in fortunes, he wants to build a side that can compete at the highest level like his former employers. Who would rule it out at the moment?

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