Arsenal's £72million capture of Nicolas Pepe has certainly flipped the script for the Gunners ahead of the new season.
The Premier League big boys had to bide their time before landing one of the biggest signings of the summer after prizing the highly-rated winger away from Lille.
It's a serious outlay for a player who has enjoyed a rapid rise over the past 12 months and the thrill factor involved in the capture is even sweeter for Arsenal fans who thought their team were up against it financially.
Numerous reports suggested Unai Emery had just a £40m budget to play with but that reduced figure has been blown out the water.
Arsenal already shelled out £27m for St Etienne defender William Saliba and secured a bumper loan deal to bring Real Madrid midfielder Dani Ceballos to the Emirates.
And now the focus turns to Kieran Tierney with the Celtic left-back the one outstanding piece of business the North London side want to complete before next Thursday's transfer deadline.
The Gunners remain confident they can reach a deal for the £25m-rated Scotland international as they ready a third bid for Tierney.
But Arsenal's recent signing splurge shouldn't come as a surprise...Emery himself predicted the "very expensive" developments that were about to take place.
The 47-year-old, days before Pepe was even mentioned as a potential target, delivered a definitive transfer statement about his side's ambitions.
Club director Josh Kroenke's upbeat message was backed by the manager when he made it clear what was about to come.
The Spaniard said earlier this month: "Our target is to achieve three, four players to really improve our team and squad now.
"We are being very demanding and we are also first speaking about the possibility to sign very big players, very expensive.
"The first player in our list is the first target and after, if we cannot have that then [we try to sign] the second, but thinking every time that they are going to improve our team."
So what now?
Arsenal fans are salivating at the prospect of a front three of Pepe, Alex Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang as they look to make a return to the top four.
And the capture of Tierney, if they can get it over the line, would represent a summer to remember after the earlier financial horror stories.
