Renewals, signings, serenity: The Arsenal week that was

Caveat-free weeks are a rare-enough occurrence in the life of a football fan.

‘Sure, we won that game but such-and-such a player is injured’ or ‘yes, we made this signing but this player is refusing to agree a new deal’ – you know how it goes.

However well things appear to have gone, there is almost always something new on the horizon to fret about and chew over. Not so, this week.

Not only did we get confirmation at last of Kai Havertz’s arrival but we saw a bid accepted for Declan Rice, William Saliba’s contract extension move into the home straight and even Ethan Nwaneri – our sought-after youth prospect – put pen to paper on scholarship terms.

Now *that’s* a good week.

Some clubs in the Premier League are afforded the space to do their work in silence, with little revelatory coverage about their transfer targets, offers, dealings and wrangles. That’s not a privilege that Edu and Mikel Arteta get to enjoy and that can often make their work much more difficult than it might otherwise be.

As such, they deserve tremendous credit for doing so much good work in short order but also in spite of it being conducted squarely in the public gaze. There scarcely seemed to be a toilet break in the Rice negotiations that wasn’t reported on, poured over and analysed.

The Arsenal fanbase, particularly online, is enormous and it is insatiable at times. It remembers everything and forgives very little. Given how well-covered the Gunners are, that leaves little room for ‘failure’, or what might be deemed so in the court of public opinion.

So step back a moment and take in the sheer breadth and ambition of everything they have been able to achieve in the early stages of this summer. Tricky contract negotiations, obstinate agents, even more obstinate chairman – they had a huge amount on their plate.

And while there may yet be more still to do, especially in terms of player sales and revenue generation, it can’t be argued that they haven’t started well and with real determination. Arteta identified what he wanted and he has been backed yet again.

The Gunners made it to the precipice in the league last season but lacked the right gear and enough stamina to attempt the summit. If they have a few more weeks like this one between now and the start of the new campaign in August, they may just have all the equipment they need for the final climb.