Mikel Arteta knew and so did Win. Dogs just do. “Well, of course,” Martín Zubimendi says, cracking up. The July day he walked through the doors at the Arsenal training centre, the club’s resident chocolate labrador – a therapy dog the head coach had brought in to bring the kind of calm wanted from the new signing too – was the first to welcome him. “It was lovely. I arrived with my parents, my agent, a small group, and he came straight to me, sat by me, rolled on the floor at my feet; that was very nice.”

It was also the way he would have wanted it, part of the plan. “He’s a bit like yours,” the sporting director, Andrea Berta, offered as Win lent against the midfielder’s legs. Zubimendi’s dog, Lea, hadn’t made it to London – he’s hoping she will soon – but this was a good start. There was a letter from Mikel Merino and a video call from Martin Ødegaard, teammates at Real Sociedad, yet no friendlier face than this. That can help when you’re departing the city you were born in and the club where you have been since you were 12.

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