Late on Wednesday evening, as they filed out of the changing room and towards the north London night, several members of Arsenal’s squad — fresh from a 4-0 win over Everton — paused for one final engagement.
A small group of supporters found themselves between the players and the door.
Oleksandr Zinchenko stopped to say hello. So did William Saliba. The Frenchman crouched down to pose for photos and then hunched over to sign a shirt. Saliba’s cult status has continued to snowball since he returned from loan in the summer.
Here, though, he scribbled his signature beneath the name and number of a team-mate.