The January transfer window has closed, but it's already time to look ahead to the summer.
With as many as eight first-team departures, Arsenal were among the busiest Premier League clubs in the window as manager Mikel Arteta and technical director Edu fulfilled their transfer promise.
Among those to have left the Emirates Stadium includes Mesut Ozil, Sokratis, and Shkodran Mustafi - three players who were out of contract at the end of the season but agreed to early terminations to seal moves away.
The other permanent exit saw Matt Macey join Hibernian.
That means the other half were loan deals with William Saliba, Sead Kolasinac, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, and Joe Willock joined Nice, Schalke, West Brom, and Newcastle United respectively.
As Mustafi, Sokratis, and Ozil, in particular, have all left, the Gunners' wage bill has significantly and perhaps gives them room to maneuver in the summer transfer window.
Interestingly, transfer expert Fabrizio Romano has recently revealed that Arsenal remain 'convinced' Lyon midfielder Houssem Aouar is still right man to solve their creativity issues.
"They are still looking for this kind of player, they were also trying for Szoboszlai who then joined Leipzig, but they were trying really for Dominik Szoboszlai,” Romano said on the Feather on Football podcast.
"And also Aouar has always been the first target for Arsenal. They love him and they are convinced he would be perfect in their midfield.
"The problem is that Lyon are asking for €60 million (£53.3m) they are having an amazing season, they want to be back in the Champions League, so at the moment with the president of Lyon it’s really hard to negotiate in January for this kind of player."
Technical director Edu's reported decision to prioritise a move for Thomas Partey over Aouar last summer may look like a masterstroke amid concerning news surrounding French football.
After the latest attempt from the LFP to sell TV rights to Ligue 1 failed after bids from Amazon, DAZN, and Discovery, a bleak picture has been painted, with the next 48 hours crucial and has been summed up by French football daily L'Equipe as '48 hours to save Ligue 1'.
Several club presidents have told the Financial Times that it could push some clubs into bankruptcy, while many have already started to negotiate wage cuts with players.
While it should serve as a wake-up call to European football about the frail nature of the reliance on these TV deals, it may open up an opportunity for Arsenal, to sign Aouar at a cheaper price at the end of the season.
But if Arsenal can manage to sign the playmaker in the summer window, they will get "10 times better", according to the midfielder's teammate Memphis Depay.
"It would mean everything to me to win the Ligue 1 title with Houssem, the team and the president," Depay told Canal+, as reported by Get French Football News.
"We know we play for a very big club but we want to go to one of the top three clubs in the world. Then you will see Houssem he will get 10 times better.
"For me the same."
