After a season defined by turmoil at centre-back, Liverpool have moved to sign one of Europe's most promising operators in that position in Ibrahima Konate.
Having been without Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip and Joe Gomez for so much of the last campaign, it is reassuring for Jurgen Klopp to know that his options for the next have been enhanced.
But the German will also acknowledge that improved squad depth will provide its own problems this summer; namely, the dreaded selection headache.
Van Dijk's decision not to go to the European Championship with the Netherlands was made so that a target of getting back for pre-season could be met, and that remains the plan.
Gomez's standing with England isn’t quite comparable, meaning he was always going to be given time to recover, while Matip retired from international football in 2015.
And yet it would be presumptuous in the extreme to suggest that all three will be battling out for a starting spot in the Reds' first friendly of the summer.
As the club's medical staff will know, long-term injury absences are so often followed by knock-on effects in the form of muscle tweaks and pulls.
Consequently, Liverpool won't be taking any risks as they look to avoid anything resembling a repeat of a chastening 2020-21 campaign.
In theory, that should be good news for Konate, who would hope to receive early opportunities ahead of his returning colleagues.
Yet it might not work out like that due to that persistent spanner in the works: international football.
Not yet a full international, Konate will be part of the France squad for the U21 European Championship this summer rather than its senior counterpart.
With the group stages of that rescheduled competition having been played in March, the knockouts will complete over the course of a week ending on June 6.
Unfortunately, that might not represent the extent of the Frenchman's international commitments, with a call-up to the Olympics in Tokyo a distinct possibility.
That tournament runs between July 21 and August 7, meaning involvement would seriously hamper Konate's hopes of earning a place in Klopp's preferred XI before the start of the season.
The manager's preference for continuity would, in normal circumstances, favour the pairing who finished the last season in Nat Phillips and Rhys Williams.
But after taking on an unexpectedly prominent role in the run-in, Phillips has a difficult decision to make over whether his long-term position in the pecking order merits sticking around at the age of 24.
Williams, meanwhile, is thought to need a loan to further his development, despite performing so impressively in a high-pressure chase for Champions League football.
That leaves Ben Davies, for whom an immediate departure should not be ruled out given the likelihood that acceptable offers from elsewhere could be forthcoming.
It is for these reasons that, for Klopp's remaining centre-backs, this summer's scrap for a starting spot on the first day of next season is likely to be decided by availability rather than ability.
And is perhaps fitting given the theme of the last campaign.
