Two years ago Arsenal built their side for the future. In the space of a few short weeks their wage budget ballooned, their transfer budget gambled away.
There were notable successes in the desperate trolley dash of 2018 - Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has been an undisputed star since joining from Borussia Dortmund. But he is the only one of the trio in whom Arsenal invested nearly three-quarters of a million a week in wages who has proven to be money well spent.
Mesut Ozil has shown flashes of his remarkable talent and may have been far more successful under a more simpatico coach than Unai Emery but soon after Arsene Wenger went there were already those in the hierarchy wondering if they had made a colossal mistake. Still, they noted at the time, it was not like they could lose Alexis Sanchez and Ozil in one month.
Similarly at the time you could justify swapping Sanchez for Henrikh Mkhitaryan as making the best of a bad situation. Each decision was individually justifiable. In their totality they left Arsenal in a corner they are still struggling to extricate themselves from.
Mkhitaryan may currently be on loan at Roma but, as things they stand, Arsenal are on the hook for over half-a-million a week in wages for the Armenian and Ozil. They could well get off some of that money with the Italians believed to be open to keeping 31-year-old next season.
It is still a potential problem on the horizon, a gamble from January that has loomed large over the club ever since, draining funds that could be invested elsewhere.
A few gambles to get back into the Champions League in the 2018/19 season and Arsenal have been paying for them ever since.
Those mistakes could not be repeated so Arsenal's mantra throughout this month has been use the window "tactically". Don't commit big money now unless the deal won't get any better in the summer.
Indeed Arsenal have committed very little money indeed. In terms of loan fees Pablo Mari and Cedric Soares will cost the Gunners around £5million with wages on top. It is not an inconsiderable investment at a time of the year when money is tight at the Emirates Stadium.
Getting the sort of deals Arsenal wanted was not easy. Flamengo reacted furiously early on to the suggestion they should let Mari go without a commitment to sign him permanently. Talks with Shakhtar Donetsk over Mykola Matviyenko never really got going because the Gunners could not work out a similar deal.
There is an obvious reason why Arsenal were so assertive over a loan move.
Should either Mari or Cedric disappoint other the coming months then Arsenal will have lost a relatively slender sum, certainly not enough to hamstring them going into the summer. The former can return to Flamengo, who have made a 300% profit on the centre-back after just seven months, the latter will not be short of takers as a free agent.
Arsenal, though, are not entering February expecting either of these moves not to pay off. They are hopeful that these will constitute two shrewd acquisitions; Mari can be signed for an option believed to be around £8million whilst if Cedric does impress he will almost certainly be offered new terms at the Emirates.
Mari "balances what I want to do from the back line, he gives more options, more solutions, he opens up the pitch more", according to Arteta, whilst Cedric is "a player who's got a big experience.
"He's played in different countries, he's played in this league, he knows what it means. He's very willing to go to another top club and he's got that desire, that commitment."
If not Arsenal will move on to alternative targets this summer, when business is easier to be done. Whatever happens, their hands will not be tied by the events of the past week. That, if nothing else, is progress.
