COMMENT: So do you think they read the fine print? Unai Emery. Raul Sanllehi. Do you think they read the fine print before they signed those Arsenal contracts...?

Y'know the small print. The little details about Arsenal. Particularly the Stan Kroenke version. That reputation of Premier League clubs. All that money. All that spending power. Only for Arsenal, it doesn't actually exist.

For their part, they've met their brief. Less than a year into his deal and Emery has Arsenal into the final eight of the Europa League and still in the mix for a top four finish. Those two chances of Champions League qualification remain alive.

And for Sanllehi, who's been with the club a little longer, meeting expectations measures the same. Just in the past week, we have news of the football chief tapping his old friends at Barcelona about a price for Samuel Umtiti. Letting them also know he'd be willing to discuss Philippe Coutinho. And using long time contacts to tap David Alaba's people about swapping the Red shirt of Bayern Munich for another.

Even Emery is in on the act. The Basque making a personal check on Djene Dakonam, the powerful Getafe stopper, a fortnight ago.

Umtiti at centre-half. Alaba at left-back. And Coutinho stepping in for the Juventus bound Aaron Ramsey. Now that's a team. That's something for fans to grab onto. To get excited about. But as Sanllehi discovered in his dealings for Monchi. All this ground work. All those foundations. It really means little if there's no spending power behind it.

In the press. Discussing the Gunners' summer budget. The predictions range from a paltry 10 million quid to potentially £40m - if Emery can clinch Champions League qualification. But what we can say here, in this column, is that those fears of Kroenke and his board keeping the chequebook firmly closed ring true.

Originally, the motivation for our search was driven by the summer transfer budget. Was this why Monchi turned down Arsenal? After agreeing to have his AS Roma deal ripped up, was it the realisation he'd be working with limited spending power which drove him back into the arms of Sevilla?

The answer was 'yes' - but it didn't begin and end with transfer spending. A ring around and Tribalfootball.com learned that Monchi chose Sevilla because they made the bigger offer. That's right. Little, humble Sevilla. Though capable of pulling off the odd big money deal. It was Sevilla which tabled the superior contract to Monchi. And in a straight choice between the two, the Spaniard went with the better reward.

"Look, many insist Godfather II was better than the original," Monchi joked at his presentation a fortnight ago, before confirming he had only two serious proposals to consider.

"With Real Madrid there was nothing. Arsenal was the club that showed the most interest. In the end I made the decision to accept the call from Sevilla because professionally it was the best."

So what happened? Well, the simple answer is Arsenal were gazumped. The Gunners had made a first offer with Monchi still in the throes of finding a way out of Roma. The proposal so low that Monchi believed they weren't even serious about him. However, further haggling eventually convinced him to accept the deal. The prime motivation being not the contract tabled, but the chance to work again with Emery. And when it all fell apart in Italy, rather than wait until June to make the move to London, Monchi was all packed and ready to immediately begin work with the Gunners.

However, now a free agent, Sevilla president Jose Castro acted quickly. A bigger contract and full control of transfer matters was proposed. Arsenal had his deal drawn up. It just lacked Monchi's signature. And when he personally called to inform them that Sevilla had "offered him all that he had asked for", as we were told, there was understandably some anger inside the Gunners board room.

But the sad fact was, either through finances or football nous, those making the money decisions at Arsenal did not value what Monchi would bring to the club. "The sporting director in England is never well paid", is the perception on the continent. A perception held up by Monchi's experience dealing with Arsenal.

Which, perhaps, is also reason why in that same week Marc Overmars, another to be coveted by the Gunners, chose to sign new terms with Ajax. Even inside the Amsterdam giants, they were aware talks were being held.

"Talking is free," opined Edwin van der Sar, Ajax's chief exec, just a week before Overmars signed his contract. "Marc is happy here. Whether he had a conversation (with Arsenal)? That could be. Talking is free."

Arsenal. Sevilla. On paper. On reputation. There isn't a comparison. Not for a sporting director. That Monchi chose to return. Tempted back by Castro's willingness to outbid his rival. For Arsenal, it really is unacceptable.

But this is what lies in wait. For this summer at least. And perhaps longer. Sanllehi and Emery can do all the leg work they can. But if there's an unwillingness from higher up to repay that work with financial backing, more embarrassing snubs are sure to follow.

As the two Spaniards now know, you should always read the fine print.