Arsenal have certainly come off better from the transfer merry-go-round that took place in 2022 when the club’s sporting director had to react after failing to sign Mykhailo Mudryk. However, fast forward to April 2024 and the man who was signed having failed to land the Ukrainian was scoring in the clash between the two clubs and another big acquisition compounded Chelsea woes in a 5-0 defeat in north London.

Mudryk was promised a Chelsea project which aimed to compete at the top when he was signed for a fee in the region of £89million. However, for an entire £62million less, Leandro Trossard has been by far the more impressive signing.

The Belgian has already scored in several big matches. Having grabbed the late equaliser at Stamford Bridge earlier in the season, he added goals against Liverpool, FC Porto, Bayern Munich and away at Wolves this past weekend before yet another hit the back of the net Tuesday night.

Trossard is not the first player that Edu has needed to pivot to during his time at the club in an initial technical director role before his last promotion. He, alongside his team including Richard Garlick, have needed to respond to a number of players choosing other pathways at the time for a variety of reasons.

Oleksandr Zinchenko arrived following Lisandro Martinez's move to Manchester United despite bids to Ajax from Arsenal. Jorginho was signed from Chelsea after they were priced out of a move for Moises Caicedo.

Then there is Mason Mount who was followed and wanted by Arsenal before he chose Manchester United. However, the player they signed instead for £65million from the Blues went on to score twice for the Gunners, Kai Havertz - both the German and Belgian costing considerably less combined than what was paid for Caicedo or (not and) Enzo Fernandez.

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Never has he scored as many goal in a season as he has done this campaign as Mikel Arteta has found a way to unlock his talents in a completely transformative way. He has found what the west London club simply couldn’t in their mega-money signing under Frank Lampard.

The roles of these two clubs have been reversed dramatically in the past couple of seasons. The recruitment of both clubs has come in for considerable scrutiny and despite the bigger spenders being further down the table, Arsenal’s record-breaking investment of their own has been more astute, better-planned and ultimately more effective.

As both clubs enter a big summer, Arsenal are by far the more attractive destination whereas two years ago that was not the case at all. The bragging rights belong in North London both on and off the field.