Mikel Arteta stopped Arsenal from buying Emerson Royal and the defender ended up at Tottenham where they are already looking for other options.

Both players are 23 and both were wanted by Arsenal and Tottenham during the summer.

For a while, it looked like Arsenal would end up with Emerson, while Tomiyasu would be going to Tottenham.

Arsenal were in advanced negotiations for the Barcelona man, led by Edu, with the analytics department also approving the deal.

But Mikel Arteta wasn’t convinced, so the Gunners pulled out, allowing him to join Tottenham Hotspur for £25.7m while Arsenal signed Tomiyasu for £16.74m on deadline day.

Showing how close it was to going the other way, Tomiyasu admitted he thought he was going to Tottenham until deadline day when the move fell apart.

While Arsenal, and their fans, couldn’t be happier with how Tomiyasu has performed since signing in the summer, things aren’t going so well for Emerson.

According to the Daily Telegraph on Saturday, who were writing about the latest Totteham transfer to fall through, “Traore is thought to have been put off by the prospect of being converted into a right wing-back by Conte, which raises questions over why he was pursued by Paratici for so long.

“Tottenham first tried to sign Traore in the summer, and it appears remarkable that before reigniting the club’s interest in him this month, Paratici would not have held discussions over the role Spurs and Conte had planned for him.

“The failed pursuit of Traore has left Tottenham scrambling to find an alternative. Conte is clearly unhappy with his right-sided options – even though the club spent £25.7million on Emerson Royal from Barcelona in the summer.”

While Emerson hasn’t performed poorly, he certainly has taken more time than Tomiyasu to settle in the Premier League.

He has also come in for far more criticism than the Arsenal defender who has mostly received nothing but praise all season.