Another day, another new signing in the bag for Arsenal and it’s one that whilst we’ve waited a while to get over the line, it’s been done and confirmed and I cannot be happier.

This is the type of profile of player that we needed at the club. Lucas Torreira may be small but he looks like he’s got a bit of bite to him, certainly the energy about him, as he alluded to on the official website when talking about the ‘garra charrua’. Personally I think that it sounds like a tiny little dog that yaps too much and that celebrity Z-listers keep in their purses, but apparently not, apparently it’s something that is difficult to describe but includes a bit of tenacity thrown in there.

What I hope we get from him is energy and the ability to cover ground. I think we saw some of that for Uruguay at this World Cup and if he can continue that form for The Arsenal as he did for his national team and Sampdoria, we could have a very important cog in the Emery machine.

He impressed me during the World Cup and what his signing does is show that this current Arsenal structure is more than just visiting old stomping grounds. The arrival of Sokratis did feel a tiny bit underwhelming, particularly because it looked like Sven was just going back through his old numbers in his little black book, but signings like these show that the club is looking hard to find the right pieces of the Arsenal puzzle to put together a successful team.

It’s also heartening to see this business done early. The worry with the Torreira situation is that post a World Cup a player’s value can skyrocket and you can bet your bottom dollar that had we have done what Arsenal traditionally do in the past and sniff around a player for five to six weeks, we’d have found a club in Sampdoria who knew they had multiple suitors, knew they had the upper hand in negotiations and knew they could charge a premium. We’d have ended up losing a player like this because we’d have baulked at the price.

I think Arsène Wenger would have been one of the biggest contributors to the former stance we would have taken in years gone by, but I don’t think it would have been all him, so perhaps there is a realisation from the club that we need to just be more decisive on a player. So the results of that are now evident in the current rapid nature of the acquisitions this summer and we can now look towards pre season preparations and the start of the season without the worry of gaping holes in our squad that feel like they need to be filled.

Quite what it means for how we’re going to line up I’m not so sure. We have a team which is looking quite full now and there’s no doubt that some trimming probably needs to be done. I’d expect that to be Jenkinson, Ospina, probably Martinez, a centre half will surely have to go out on loan, plus someone like Willock needs more minutes. If Ramsey doesn’t sign a new deal soon I suspect we need to start looking at getting some cashola from him too but such is the club’s swift response to getting what it feels it needs this summer, that I’d feel confident that we’d at least have a replacement of sorts lined up. I doubt they’d give us exactly the same as what Ramsey produces but it feels like a good plan B could be on the cards if we lose the Welshman.

So all-in-all I think we can be happy. No more deadline day scrambling, no more “we’re one or two short”. We have what we need and now it’s up to Emery to get the most out of his squad and get them 100% ready for the visit of Man City for the first game of the season.

#FeelingPositive