When he turned up for his Arsenal job interview “extraordinarily well prepared,” you can only assume Unai Emery made no mention of allowing Aaron Ramsey to join Juventus or sending Mesut Ozil into internal exile. All that would have made for a trickier power-point presentation.

Ivan Gazidis, the chief executive who praised Emery’s interview skills, is now working in Italy, where he will be joined by Ramsey, and maybe even Ozil, if rumours about the Arsenal manager’s eagerness to loan him to a Serie A club are correct. Gazidis leaving was part of a revolution started by Arsene Wenger’s removal. Emery stepped into that gap promising transformation.

A safe, highly-qualified coach (three Europa League titles) turns out to be a bit of a gambler. Even the real A-listers would think long and hard about allowing Ramsey to join a club where he is considered good enough to play with Cristiano Ronaldo. Allowing for the usual political caveats - contracts, money - Arsenal have lost someone many new managers would have built their midfields around.

Ozil is another case of Emery backing his own radicalism. Arsenal’s most decorative player was hooked at half-time at Brighton on Boxing Day and has not been seen since. For Emery’s third league defeat in six at the weekend, Ozil could not make the bus to West Ham, never mind the starting XI.