Such praise underlines why Arsenal have invested more than £50million to sign Zubimendi from Real Sociedad. With Jorginho and Thomas Partey departing, the club are overhauling the base of their midfield and they first started looking for a world-class No6 a year ago.

At half-time of last year’s European Championship final against England, Spain manager Luis de la Fuente had a simple message for his players. “Let’s be ourselves,” he told his team, in a speech filmed by Amazon’s documentary-makers.

Martin: Zubimendi is going to be the number six that most thought Rice would be before Arteta saw him as a number eight. Hopefully he frees Martin Odegaard up as well. Sam: It's a very good signing and a crucial one as well.