Mikel Arteta is expecting Arsenal new-boy Thomas Partey to give his side a lot of "adaptability" and "balance".
The north Londoners completed the signing of the Ghanaian midfielder on transfer deadline day, paying Spanish giants Atletico Madrid £52.5million for his services.
Partey, 27, has penned a four-year contract at the Emirates worth a whopping £260,000-a-week.
The arrival of the combative Ghana international has given Arsenal some much-needed bite in the heart of their midfield.
Arteta is looking forward to the midfielder showcasing his defensive qualities but foresees him having a more profound effect on Arsenal's counterattacking transitions.
"We identified him a few months ago and we have been following his progress, and obviously the more you know about the squad, you know more about where you think you can improve it," the Spaniard told Arsenal's official website.
"We believe he has the right qualities, with his character and his personality and as well with his technical qualities and positional options that he can give to the team.
"I think he allows us to play different formations and he can fit in within those formations in different positions, which is a really good thing to have in a squad where, in midfield, I think we were a little bit short.
"I have a few things in mind that I want to start to train with the team and [Partey's signing] is going to give us a little bit more adaptability and more balance in defending and attacking transitions and the way we have to set up certain structures to attack better in certain moments of the game."
According to Arsenal's technical director, Edu, the club chased Partey's signature for the best part of seven months.
“One day I would like to show the fans how we work, or how we worked because if you saw my plan six or seven months ago when I did it with Mikel, Thomas was there already," the Brazilian told Arsenal.com.
"So you see how many months we had to try to find the right player for the club.
"So many things to do, so many meetings, we had to see how we were going to buy the player, if we had the financial situation to buy the player, the legal process, the financial process, talk to the player, talk to the agent, so there are a lot of things around this but in the end we did it!"
Arsenal will be back in action on Saturday week, travelling to the Etihad to take on Premier League title hopefuls Manchester City.
