It was around about a year into his tenure as Arsenal manager when Mikel Arteta highlighted a major problem in his squad - a lack of goals from midfield.
In the 2020/21 campaign, Mohamed Elneny, Thomas Partey, Dani Ceballos and Granit Xhaka managed four goals between them across all competitions, whilst the more creative players such as Willian, Emile Smith Rowe and Martin Odegaard managed seven in total.
"It's very clear. If you say 'can they do it?' it's a question mark. Have they done it in the past? The answer is no," Arteta said in December 2020. "We haven't had any goals from midfield, it's not something that happened [just] this year, it happened in other years and is something that has to be addressed.
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"To change the qualities and characteristics of players is very, very difficult. A big team needs players in midfield who score goals. They need central defenders that score goals from set-pieces to add to that. If you start to lose those margins, you start to lose points, you start to be away from the top team, this is not any science."
Things did drastically improve for Arsenal in the 2021/22 season with Smith Rowe netting 11 in all competitions and Odegaard weighing in with seven. But the season just gone proved that Arteta finally solved the problem as there was no longer an over-reliance on one player scoring the goals.
Odegaard finished the campaign as the highest-scoring midfielder across the entire Premier League and as the Gunners' joint-leading scorer with 15 alongside Gabriel Martinelli. Meanwhile, Granit Xhaka enjoyed his best campaign to date as his brace on the final day against Wolves took his tally to seven.
Of course, Xhaka's quest to make an impact in the final third coincided with a role change. Previously recognised as more of a deeper-lying midfielder tasked with dictating play and breaking up opposition attacks, he often found himself breaking into the box as one of two 'eights' alongside Partey and Odegaard.
"Yeah especially here [points at head]. When you think you are going to score, you score. And when you score one, you believe in the next one you are going to score," Arteta said when asked about the 30-year-old netting against Leeds United. "And when you score again, you believe in the next one you are going to score. Great finish, great run, great timing, so happy for him. They need to contribute with goals."
Now with the Switzerland international likely to join Bayer Leverkusen this summer as football.london understands he's in advanced talks over a £13million deal, he will need to be replaced adequately and this is where links to the likes of Xavi Simons and Gabri Veiga make a great deal of sense.
Both players hit double figures for goals in their respective domestic leagues in the season just gone and that return certainly ticks all the boxes with regard to what Arteta looks for in an attacking midfielder in his side.
"An incredible season for a No 10 of Arsenal means he needs to score 15 goals and give 10 assists," the Spaniard said of Smith Rowe - an alternative option to Simons and Veiga following the club's recent transfer decision. "Then you are right up there with the top guys in Europe and in the league."
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