There's a deal still be done with Real Sociedad for Merino. But with personal terms settled and from the comments of Jokin Aperribay, La Real's president, it's only a matter of time before the Euros winner will be touching down in London.
Indeed, La Real already have found the Spain midfielder's replacement: Luka Sucic arriving from RB Salzburg on Thursday. Young, bright, with bags of potential, 18 months ago, Sucic would be a player high on the shopping list of Edu, Arsenal's technical director. But today? Today Arsenal are shopping for the finished article. La Real will hope Sucic will develop as a worthy successor for Merino, while Arsenal, if all goes to plan, will be getting the real thing.
And for Merino, we can add Calafiori. This column convinced the pressmen in London aren't fully across the significance of the former Bologna defender's arrival. In Italy. Inside the Italian game. They say the 22 year-old is a generational talent. The best left-sided defender seen since the breakthrough of Paolo Maldini last century.
Fabio Capello certainly thinks so. The former England coach. A league winner with AC Milan, Roma and Real Madrid. The Italian had no hesitation talking up Calafiori earlier this summer.
"If I have to compare the Bologna defender to a player from the past, the first thought goes to a young Sergio Ramos," Capello declared.
“In 2006/07, in my second stint on the Real Madrid bench, I coached the Spaniard, who had arrived the previous season from Sevilla.
“Calafiori, just like Ramos, transformed from a full-back into a centre-back. And I can assure you that Sergio Ramos, as nasty as we remember him now, became that way over time.”
Just this week, Paolo Tramezzani, the former Inter Milan and Tottenham defender, went further. Currently in charge of NK Istra, Tramezzani agrees with those inside Italian football about the potential of what Arsenal have landed.
“Calafiori is a fantastic player, very talented, and with great qualities," he told Tribalfootball.com. "In the recent period, he has changed position and now plays as a central defender. He is a modern player, and I think the comparison with Sergio Ramos is valid.
"I really like how he is always punctual in his movement, how he presses and stays close to his opponent, how he takes part in the actions of his team, how he is not afraid in different situations of the game but is always ready.
"I think he will be one of the greatest defenders in the modern football world.”
As we say, they're buying to win, are Arsenal. Yes, at 22, Calafiori has his best days ahead of him. But he's arrived for the here and now. A player, like Merino, to lift the standard of last season's runners up.
And it's those changing standards that Arteta readily discussed in that first presser of this preseason. Arteta talked about a change in "hunger". Not just within his senior squad, but across the club. You can see it in the decision-making regarding those to leave. Mohamed Elneny, Cedric Soares, Albert Sambi Lokonga, Reuell Walters, Amario Cozier-Duberry and Nuno Tavares have already gone. Emile Smith Rowe is due a Fulham medical on Friday, while Reiss Nelson and Eddie Nketiah are also seeking new pastures. It's a clearout and there's every chance more could leave as this shift from the potential of being a title winner to it being demanded continues inside the club.
“For sure and we’ve done it across the club – in every department, not only on the football side or the men’s first team, but when you look at our academy and women’s performances and men’s first team, the environment that we have created and our supporters, it’s different," stated Arteta. "It’s a different hunger and it’s a different look.
“We’re really showing our teeth because we want to win and we know that if we want to achieve that in a consistent way and put the club in the position that we want, that’s going to be key."
Another season as nearly-men? Well, that will depend on Pep Guardiola and his Manchester City. But what's clear is that this team of Arteta's will be no flash-in-the-pan. They're acting like it. They're buying like it. And the bar has been raised. Arsenal are here to stay. The Gunners are genuine contenders again.