Mikel Arteta's internal push to sign Takehiro Tomiyasu looks to have helped secure a Deadline Day transfer for Arsenal.
The Gunners have already spent £132million in the transfer market this summer including the additions of Martin Odegaard, Aaron Ramsdale and £50m man Ben White.
But they are set to shell out another £18m on the Japanese international who is set to have his medical after Bologna accepted Arsenal's offer for the defender.
Arsenal's horror start to the season with three defeats, no goals scored, as they languish at the foot of the Premier League table highlighted that the Gunners still needed more reinforcements, especially at right-back.
Will Takehiro Tomiyasu be a good signing for Arsenal? Comment below
Nobody has nailed down a starting position on the right-hand side with Cedric Soares and Calum Chambers, who is traditionally a centre-half, sharing the playing time between them.
Hector Bellerin hasn't been involved and is set to join Real Betis, which will help raise funds for Tomiyasu.
Ainsley Maitland-Niles has not featured either, but the club want to keep him at the club despite his plea to be sold.
Tomiyasu is a versatile defender who can play centrally or on the right side of the defence. Arsenal will likely use him at right-back given their problems in that area, but he gives Mikel Arteta plenty of options.
The Gunners played four at their back for their first three games of the season, but switched to a three for their 6-0 defeat against Man City.
It didn't work out on that occasion, but Tomiyasu's presence could change that. The 22-year-old could play as the right-sided centre-half and Ainsley Maitland-Niles at wing-back, with Kieran Tierney at left centre-back with Nuno Tavares ahead of him, for example.
Tomiyasu's adaptability is one of the reasons why Arteta is such a huge admirer of the player and why he was personally pushing for the transfer to happen, according to The Athletic.
He doesn't necessarily know what his best system/starting XI is given Arsenal's disruptive start to the season with several players missing after testing positive for coronavirus, but now will have a player at his disposal that lets him explore other avenues.
Tomiyasu's potential signing brings Arsenal's total spending to £150m, an extraordinary amount of money given the current climate.
The Kroenke's owners have put their money where their mouths are as they pledged to help fund this rebuild under Arteta.
But they've not only backed the Spaniard, but they've also shown an enormous amount of faith to give him the freedom to go after his own targets.
It's every manager's dream to be trusted in that manner, but it also brings an incredible amount of pressure as the responsibility will solely lie on his shoulders if the signings from this summer backfire.
There have already been calls for Arteta to be replaced after Arsenal's dreadful start to the campaign and that noise will only grow louder if these new arrivals don't hit the ground running.
The pressure is on now to deliver and he can't say he's not been given a fair crack of the whip if he doesn't.
