Technical director of Arsenal, Edu has revealed that new signing Thomas Partey was on the club's radar for seven months.
Partey joined Arsenal from Atletico Madrid on transfer deadline day after meeting his £45m release clause on the final day of the summer window.
Edu confirmed Partey was a target for Arsenal when they first drew up their recruitment plan at the beginning of the year.
"One day I would like to show the fans how we work, or how we worked, because if you saw my plan six or seven months ago when I did it with Mikel (Arteta), Thomas was there already," he told the club's website.
"So you see how many months we had to try to find the right player for the club.
"So many things to do, so many meetings, we had to see how we were going to buy the player, if we had the financial situation to buy the player, the legal process, the financial process, talk to the player, talk to the agent, so there are a lot of things around this but in the end we did it!"
Edu, who was a midfielder in Arsenal's 'Invincibles' in 2003/04, also revealed how investment from club owner Stan Kroenke allowed Arsenal to arrange the financial package needed to sign Partey.
"To be fair, it is a huge investment for this moment which we are in now and of course we need the green light from them," he said.
"When I showed my plan to them, they were so excited, they understand the plan and pressed the green button and then I felt very, very confident because it is not easy to invest a lot of money in this period of time."
After joining Mallorca on loan from Atletico Madrid in the summer of 2013, a 20-year-old Thomas Partey would always introduce himself with a smile and the same phrase.