Imagine the story like this, two rivalling local car dealerships have sent representatives to an auction to buy a Lamborghini.
Both Edu and Marina Granovskaia check their bank balances a few days before the auction and they have enough but just days before the window opens the price of premium petrol skyrockets.
The two transfer chiefs call back to their home offices in north and west London, respectively; Arsenal find out that they have two cars whose MOTs are up soon but Chelsea know they've just forked out for a Ferrari in summer.
Both dealerships know they could afford the Lamborghini at the auction, but only the Gunners seem as if they could table a feasible offer that can meet the new financial demands of premium petrol in a quick turnaround while also solving the hassle of their upcoming MOTs.
Enough of my car dealership metaphors but you get the gist; Edu can turn the tide in the north London side's favour while also snatching Chelsea's latest target.
Arsenal could engineer a head start in the £70 million January transfer race for Dusan Vlahovic despite the Serbian's latest eye-watering contract demands.
The 21-year-old striker is at risk of pricing himself out of a winter move should he continue to demand a staggering £200,000-per-week, according to the Daily Star; a wage packet that totals to over £10 million-a-year.
While the numbers may be frightful, the potential is salivating and Arteta already has a solution to combat Vlahovic's steep demands.
Eddie Nketiah and Alexandre Lacazette, who both see their current deals expire at the end of the season, rake in a combined annual salary of around £11.8 million, according to Spotrac.
The two strikers provide the financial and logistical foundations for Edu to complete a move; they open space in the right position for a foreign striker to join and Vlahovic's demands are met, all in good time.
However, Chelsea, on the other hand, signed Romelu Lukaku in the summer for £97.5 million and the players whose contracts both expire at the end of the season and financially cover the Fiorentina striker's wages are defenders.
All in all, Arsenal have a space in their garage ready for the Lamborghini come the summer but Chelsea would have to park it in the local car park until they sort out their finances.
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