There was a time, not long ago, when some Arsenal supporters were furious. It seems hard to imagine right now, as the club sits top of the Premier League and Champions League following a near-pristine start to the season, but over the summer there was a section of fans who were railing against their apparent lack of ambition.

The summer transfer window was the first for Andrea Berta as sporting director following his appointment in March. It was also undoubtedly a crucial one for Arsenal, who needed deals to take them from perennial second-place finishers to champions for the first time since 2004.

The stakes were high and, as ever, that meant emotions were too for supporters. Starved of football to watch, some Arsenal fans poured their heart and soul into something else: complaining about transfers.

In July, a petition was launched online to moan about Arsenal spending £52million on Noni Madueke. The general complaint was that Arsenal should not be signing players from their London rivals. The fan who created the petition wrote: "Arsenal fans deserve better, we are so close to success and instead of capitalising on the squad we have it seems we are moving two steps back just like the three previous transfer windows."

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It must be noted that the majority of fans pushed back against this general assessment. But many were irritated by the business being done with Chelsea, who have made millions from Arsenal over the years.

Madueke arrived from Stamford Bridge alongside goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga to join fellow ex-Blue Kai Havertz in Mikel Arteta's squad. They followed in a long line of players who made the migration from west to north London, including Raheem Sterling, Willian, Jorginho, David Luiz, Olivier Giroud and Petr Cech.

Funnily enough, Madueke - who scored his first Arsenal goal in the 3-1 win over Bayern Munich on Wednesday - wasn't too bothered by the perception around his move. "To be honest, I just kind of take all that stuff in my stride," he said this week. "It is normal, you are in the public eye, people can say whatever they want about you but being in the stadium and how the fans have taken to me in the stadium, is unbelievable. I am not really worried about all of that. It is in the distant past."

Arsenal ended up spending over £250m to land Madueke, Kepa, Martin Zubimendi, Christian Norgaard, Viktor Gyokeres, Cristhian Mosquera, Eberechi Eze and Piero Hincapie. And it hasn't worked out too badly at all.

Arteta now has the squad he's always dreamed of; one with at least two quality players for each position and one capable of competing across multiple fronts. They have the best defence in Europe, the best record from attacking set pieces going and carry a threat from right across the pitch.

Chelsea themselves have done well from their transfer trading, with the churn of players helping Enzo Maresca establish a youthful and exciting team. They are second in the league, six points behind Arsenal, and fresh off a 3-0 win over Barcelona in the Champions League.

The top-of-the-table showdown at Stamford Bridge serves as proof that transfers can be beneficial for all parties involved. And proof that people who make petitions about football transfers are perhaps not representative of the group they claim to represent.

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