It is not an easy time of the year to be several thousand years away from the action.
Yet in the midst of a hectic transfer window the majority of Arsenal's hierarchy have travelled to Los Angeles for the club's pre-season tour of the United States, a two-week, four game odyssey across the country that offers few respites in the schedule.
Meanwhile back in London there is understandable concern among Arsenal supporters about how transfer business can be done across an eight-hour time difference, particularly when news of Tottenham's interest in William Saliba broke in the early hours in California.
Arsenal remain active in the market despite being away from base - they are said to have made a second bid for Kieran Tierney of Celtic - and there is arguably a benefit to having the key figures in the club's transfer business all together in one place. Unai Emery, Raul Sanllehi and Edu, the triumvirate who will lead recruitment in the windows to come, had not all been in the same place this summer before they boarded the flight to LA.
Still Arsenal are taking steps to ensure that they are not left behind by the market while they are sleeping on the west coast. football.london understands chief negotiator Huss Fahmy has remained behind in London to ensure the club have a presence in the capital.
He and Sanllehi will be responsible for getting deals across the line this summer, with Fahmy the man who will take the lead in terms of hammering out the specifics of contracts with players.
In future Edu will take a much greater role in terms of transfer dealings, identifying which areas of Emery's first team need to be improved and whether the solutions need to come from the market or youth setup.
However senior sources at Arsenal insist that the technical director, who was formally announced on Monday, should not be judged on the success and failures of this window, in which he has had a minimal role. The Brazilian has already shown a willingness to get to work though.
Hours after Brazil's Copa America triumph Edu was flying to Sao Paolo, packing up in three hours and immediately boarding a plane to London. The Arsenal hierarchy would have been more than happy to meet him in Los Angeles on the tour but the 41-year-old was insistent that he wanted to travel with his new club.
