Arsenal spent a lot of time last summer looking to bring in some cover for Bukayo Saka on the right side of their attack. Raphinha was the player they wanted, and they did make a bid for the Leeds United winger. But when that bid was rejected and Raphinha’s determination to seal a dream move to Barcelona became abundantly clear, Arsenal took a step back.
At that point you thought the Gunners would move on to other targets. Moussa Diaby, the Bayer Leverkusen winger, is a player they are known to have admired for some time, and there was a feeling the north London club could make a move for the 23-year-old. But they never did.
And when the transfer window closed at the end of the summer the only right winger who had arrived at Arsenal was Marquinhos, the 19-year-old Brazilian who had come in from Sao Paulo.
The capture of Marquinhos was seen as one for the future. He was talented, but he wasn’t a player who was expected to immediately challenge for the first-team. In fact, the expectation was that he would head out on loan almost immediately. So that left Mikel Arteta once again relying almost purely on Saka on the right hand side of his front-line.