It is not the easiest sell to any club considering doing business with Arsenal.
"Let us borrow your player and then we'll see if he's any good for a few months. If he is, we'll buy him off you."
Though those words were doubtless never uttered by Raul Sanllehi nor Edu what they were effectively asking of Flamengo and Shakhtar Donetsk was that. When the Gunners were looking at players like Pablo Mari and Mykola Matviyenko, unheralded names in England but crucial to their clubs, it was all the more challenging to get deals done.
Little wonder Flamengo were so publicly furious at the prospect of simply letting Arsenal loan Mari without so much as a commitment that they would eventually get a transfer fee.
As purported Whatsapp conversations between club directors and comments from unnamed senior figures in Flamengo emerged in the Brazilian press head coach Jorge Jesus insisted he wanted Mari to stay in Rio de Janeiro. "Pablo is a Flamengo player," he said in his press conference.
"There are two players [Mari and Gabriel Barbosa] that we really want in our squad," he said.
Still Arsenal stuck to their stance. They wanted to take a look at Mari before committing money but most of all a squad place to a 26-year-old Spaniard plying his trade in Brazil.
These negotiations were never going to be simple; Arsenal were well aware of that. Even as fans fumed at Sanllehi and Edu over what they saw as a bungled approach to signing a centre-back many of them had never even heard of a few days prior the Gunners stuck to their prorities.
A player like Mari was certainly needed, not least because Arsenal have no left-footed centre-back in the squad.
It would have been easy to fold, to write it off as less than £10million to do a deal that would have left Arsenal with seven senior centre-backs plus Konstantinos Mavropanos on their books next season. If Mari were to flop Arsenal might be able to sell him on but Shkodran Mustafi, for all his improvements in recent weeks, is a very visible embodiment to the club hierarchy that just because you are prepared to part ways with a player does not mean you can get him off your books.
The compromise that was eventually reached broadly served the interests of all parties. A loan fee of £4million, representing a profit of around 300% for Flamengo in the space of just seven months. The Brazilian champions have already used that money to acquire Leo Pereira from Atletico Paranense.
They will hope to earn even more if Mari is a success in north London. Arsenal are confident that that will be the case and will be going into the coming months expecting to activate the £8million purchase option.
In effect Arsenal could end up paying twice for a player, but the logic for doing business in such a way is indisputable from their perspective.
It is not just about the budget, though Arsenal are not awash with funds after spending so heavily in the summer. It is instead about having the flexibility to utilise the summer window as effectively as possible.
The simple reality is Arsenal cannot be sure how effective Mari, a key part of Flamengo's recent success but also a fringe player at Manchester City, will be in the Premier League. The same was the case with Matviyenko. Sure things simply aren't available in January at all but the most colossal of mark-ups.
Of course there are reasons to be optimistic about Mari. Arteta will know him from their time at Manchester City. As a tall, left-footed centre-back who is good on the ball he ticks a great many of Arsenal's boxes. Those who know him well describe a "humble and hard-working" man who is determined to make the most of his opportunity.
But he cannot be a sure thing, nor can Arsenal be certain that something better will not be on the horizon this summer.
This window, one Sanllehi describes as "tactical" in its essence, is one where Arsenal can ill afford to waste next season's money. They have not done so but they have still filed a major gap in Arteta's squad.
At a time when football executives increasingly bear the brunt of fan fury Sanllehi and Edu deserve credit for a signing that
