With Arsenal's two January transfers, Mikel Arteta's vision for the squad has become much clearer.
Signing Cedric Soares appears to be a smart piece of business, providing Hector Bellerin much-needed natural cover and giving Ainsley Maitland-Niles a chance elsewhere. Pablo Mari's arrival, however, could have a bigger influence on Arteta's plans. The 26-year-old joins as the club's only left-footed centre-back. Bringing more balance to the defence, who plays alongside him will be interesting to see.
So far, the Arsenal boss has been playing David Luiz as a left-sided centre-back. This is where Arsenal have been able to build their fluid attacks down the left wing which is the area they have been most effective under Arteta.
With Mari stepping in, this could see Luiz shift over to become the right-sided centre-back to have a similar impact on the Gunners' attacks down the right wing.
"It depends. What I want is to have more options and more availability to be more unpredictable with what we will do," Arteta said on the possibility of that happening.
"Having different phases of our play, different options to make it difficult for the opponent."
No matter how Arteta decides to set his defence up, Arsenal are in a better place than they were at the start of the window.
With Calum Chambers injured for the rest of the season and Sokratis and Shkodran Mustafi dropping out to minor injuries, having another centre-back in that serves a purpose will put him at ease.
As these players return to fitness, however, Arteta could have some more tough decisions to make. Especially in the summer as Mari's loan deal has an option to buy. Cedric's Southampton contract is also set to expire, making him a free agent in the summer.
Potentially overloading the Gunners' defence, the Spaniard insisted he is satisfied with the business done and that plans will be put in place for how they deal with these situations come the end of the season.
"We’ve done so far the business that we could do, which are loans. When those loans come to an end and we have to make decisions, we will see where we are," the Arsenal boss added.
"We need a plan to put in place and that plan has to start developing over the next few months. That plan varies in relation to what we have in positions, in numbers, financially. A lot of things."
