Second-choice signings are not supposed to take a side first in the league and not just because one of the perks of being top of the table ought to be a greater sway in the transfer market. When Liverpool won first the Champions League and then the Premier League, part of the winning formula involved wanting Virgil van Dijk and Alisson so much that they waited for each and paid a record fee. They would not compromise. They got their prime targets in each position.
Arsenal could not wait. They had to compromise. An unexpected title charge afforded an opportunity. A club revived by long-term planning ended up with changing tack for the short-term task of winning the title. Had they got their way, Mykhailo Mudryk might have been in the forward line at the King Power Stadium on Saturday, Moises Caicedo in the midfield.
