Aranguiz is huge coup

Putting pen-to-paper seemed to take an eternity. There was never any let up from the player, Charles Aranguiz, who was desperate to sign for Bayer Leverkusen despite his club preferring a transfer to Leicester City. The English side didn't stand a chance even with financial superiority. Leverkusen kept their promise to the player and a deal was thrashed out.

The fact that Leverkusen dug their heels in for so long highlights just how exceptionally talented the 26-year-old Chilean midfielder is. While his club performances are something more of a mystery, Aranguiz has quietly excelled at major international tournaments - notably, the 2014 World Cup and Copa America.

June 28, 2014. Chile is within a whisker of knocking out World Cup hosts Brazil on their home patch. How that would have changed the narrative of the tournament given what would happen in the semifinals. Jorge Sampaoli's men were earning a reputation for its progressive, high-pressing football and remarkably fluid positional interchanges.

This brand of football was somewhat revolutionary - and Aranguiz was one of the key players. Even his penalty in the shootout defeat was of the highest quality.

The flames of La Roja

July 4, 2015. Chile wins the Copa America for the first time in its history. Aranguiz turns in an outstanding performance as Sampaoli's side handle the immense weight of expectation to win the country's first South American championship. There's a great 10-minute video on YouTube, collating the best moments of his performance in the final against Lionel Messi's Argentina.

Aranguiz's brilliance was apparent in all aspects of his play: his quick passes, his robust challenges off-the-ball and excellent positioning to create space for others in attack. He scored the third spot-kick for Chile before Alexis Sanchez eventually rounded off the win with a super finish.

Elias Figueroa, Chile's greatest footballer of all-time and former manager shared his thoughts on Aranguiz. "I hope he can be my successor at Internacional because it's not easy for a foreigner to succeed in a country that is so steeped in football. Here in Chile people don't understand how much of a phenomenon Aranguiz is at Inter," he wrote in a newspaper column.

Ones to watch

As negotiations dragged on, it looked like Leverkusen would need to stump up more than 15 million euros to land the player - that would have consequently been the club's record transfer fee. Understandably, Leverkusen held firm. A 12 million euro deal was agreed to secure Aranguiz's services with a five-year-deal already agreed with the player.

Joining a midfield of Lars Bender and Christoph Kramer, he will complete arguably the best trident in the middle of the park across the whole Bundesliga. Roger Schmidt can keep his energetic demands, whilst rotating between the three players who have the quality to keep Leverkusen in contention at the top.

Although a sell-on value is welcome, Aranguiz's transfer marks a small move in Leverkusen's transfer strategy. No longer does the club need to just sign potential, but indeed, finding players who are of the necessary quality at the minute is huge. The Chilean accurately ticks both of those decriptions.

What do you think of Aranguiz's transfer to Leverkusen? Can Leverkusen challenge Bayern Munich for the Bundesliga? Join the discussion below.