Talking to Ajax manager Frank de Boer, you'd swear Jan Vertonghen's move to Arsenal next season was already a done deal. What isn't so certain is if the former Netherlands captain will ever join the Belgian in the English Premier League.
Defending champions Ajax sit atop a crowded top six in the Eredivisie after eight consecutive league victories. Yet De Boer is resigned to losing his club captain at the end of the campaign, with the Emirates Stadium the most likely destination.
'Yes, we've already discussed it,' De Boer said. 'When there's a club that he's already interested in - and it's really got to be a good club - then he will leave. It's 100 per cent sure.
'I think he's ready to make a next step. It's a setback to miss that kind of quality player.'
An elegant and technical ball-playing central defender who can play in other positions, Vertonghen is a close friend of Thomas Vermaelen, his international teammate.
More than any other Arsenal player, Vermaelen will be looking to redeem himself when he welcomes Manchester City to the Emirates Stadium tomorrow because it was his two slip-ups that saw the Gunners' winning streak snapped at Queen's Park Rangers last weekend.