The haunted look in Mikel Arteta’s eyes on the final afternoon of last season told you that Arsenal were going to take their next quest for the Premier League title by the scruff of the neck.
‘Don’t be satisfied. We want more than this,’ he told the club’s fans, who lingered at the Emirates after watching Arsenal finish as runners-up for a second successive season.
That sun-kissed afternoon came to mind when the club’s wretched lack of planning led them to bid for Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins, with merely a week to go before the close of the transfer window.