It’s the weekend, so we all need a little excitement for it, right?

Yes, there’s a game on today as Arsenal take on Girona, but you and I both know that isn’t the first thing that popped into your mind – was it?

Step forward our guy HandOfArsenal:

I swear, that guy IS Berta, right? Or maybe…..

I’ve got it – it’s his daughter Paola.

I’m using the homogenised version of ‘guy’ now….

How else would you get such scoops?

Anyway, that doesn’t matter, but what does matter is that alongside Ornstein, HandOfArsenal has proven themselves to be somebody who is pretty accurate with their intel, they clearly have approval of the club to do this, and they have delivered another side to the Vinicius Junior to Arsenal story that we didn’t know. A knew angle. Fresh #Content. Grade-A5 Kobe beef wagyu ribeye flavours delivered into our eyeballs courtesy of social media platforms. And naturally all of our Arsenal timelines blew up.

Of course, this means nothing, and is far from ‘a done deal’. But from the initial “that’s ambitious from Arsenal – love it” through to “well, it probably won’t happen”, then “ahh, shame, it definitely didn’t happen”, now to “Wait….is there an outside chance here?”

This is a potentially seismic change that could impact Arsenal Football Club in so many facets. And what we’re going through on this change curve varies with who yoiu are and where you are:

We got the Ornbomb last Saturday – shock.

I think most of us hit ‘denial’ on Sunday, as we realised it probably wouldn’t happen.

Then came the “Arsenal are only doing this because of the inactivity – FFS!” – frustration mode activated.

Getting bantered by rival fans as Sky Sports’ Jose Mourinho mouthpiece Gary Cotterill said “He will stay at Madrid” came out around Tuesday, I think – that was the depression.

Hand Of Arsenal last night shifted most of us back up that graph above.

Experiment? Is that the part with which we all start working out what our team will look like? How we’re going to function and drawing up First XIs using various lineup apps? If I speak, I am in trouble…

I guess the Decision part, as HandOfArsenal says in their tweet, is all on Vinicius Junior. Arsenal have done all they can. They’ve run the numbers, they’ve debated the impact, they will have considered how this affects squad composition, they’d have thought about what might be needed in terms of sales to be generated, there’s the other players and what that does to wage negotiations they’d have factored in – and all of this still points towards the most ambitious move in the history of the club. That’s not even hyperbole; this is a peak-age, top three footballer in the world. This is a brand that will instantly catapult Arsenal even further globally than they’ve ever been. KSE aren’t doing this because they found an extra £500million down the sofa; they know that a brand like Vini Junior’s could be a massive statement for their whole franchise. They know that it will make the world sit up and take note. And as the USA rides the crest of the World Cup wave (good to see that parasite Infantino has backed down on his FFE money-scheme now – if he can just ‘step down’ next, that would be great), KSE know that the right move now could mean big cash value added to their already huge asset in Arsenal Football Club.

Heck, I’m not knocking it, because we’ve been living in an age of people realising the importance of personal branding for at least the last 10 years. But right now, with image rights being at the centre of this whole discussion, I think we can see why Arsenal’s chances might just be up to about 40% of this actually happening. And even that feels mental compared to a week ago. KSE know this. Arsenal know this. Vini Junior and Roc Nation (his agency) know this. And most importantly, Real Madrid know this. Which is why it is a sticking point. Because Madrid knows the knock-on effect the outcome of these discussions could have. In the same way that Arsenal fans and the English media are speculating over Vini Junior’s potential arrival at The Arsenal, meaning big changes in terms of our wage structure, if he stays and Madrid give him what he wants (higher percentage of image rights), then they open the same Pandora’s box, but for image rights of their big names. Which is why we’re in this position right now. Arsenal have gone big, they’ve gone bold, they’ve gone hard.

And as Arsenal fans, you can’t knock it.

I also think that the fact we’re getting this sort of information is really good, because it shows a little more on the inner workings of these big transfers. Also, hopefully, if it doesn’t come off, we’ve all been given enough of a sneak peak into how this deal unfolded. So if it doesn’t happen for The Arsenal, we all know why – and it isn’t because of Arsenal. It will simply be that Real Madrid blinked, or maybe Vini Junior just decided he would blink and simply couldn’t leave them – which I understand.

The Spanish media mouthpiece of Real Madrid – Marca – are leading with ‘sign it or leave’ – and although that was from yesterday morning, I’ve seen a screengrab of the back page of Marca today which also leads with the same news lines – so this is clearly at a stage in which briefings are happening. And hey, he may still decide that he wants to stay, even on those Real Madrid terms that aren’t exactly what he wants. But if that happens, then you won’t hear me complaining about The Arsenal’s moves – they just need to know sooner or later so we can move on if needed.

Is there a downward bit to the change curve if that happens? Asking for a friend.