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Arsenal have already committed to paying upwards of £203milllion for their six new signings this summer. If Eberechi Eze joins then that could rise to at least £270million for seven players.
However, despite this big spending, they could also look startlingly familiar. This is not going to be a change like the 2022/23 Arsenal was, when Gabriel Jesus, William Saliba and Oleksandr Zinchenko transformed things overnight.
The Arsenal that plays against Manchester United on the opening weekend of this Premier League season is likely to be pretty close to the one that Mikel Arteta has been building for the past few years.
His goalkeeper is cemented, the defence is settled - although questions over first-choice personnel will come up if Ben White is back to full fitness - whilst Martin Odegaard and Declan Rice occupy two of the three midfield spots. Bukayo Saka is a lock on the right with Kai Havertz determined to keep his No.9 position as well.
The obvious thing to say here is that Viktor Gyokeres has not come in to play second fiddle to Havertz up front. There will be a genuine battle between them, though, because Havertz has been a success for Arsenal, especially since the shift to out-and-out centre-forward.
It would not be a surprise, given the level of pre-season that Gyokeres has had in comparison to his new teammates, if Havertz started at Old Trafford. And at this point, the only new signing in the lineup is probably Martin Zubimendi.
He has a different profile to Thomas Partey entirely but is expected to essentially replace him in the midfield pivot. Noni Madueke did not join Arsenal in Asia for the tour after going away with Chelsea to the Club World Cup, therefore condensing his own summer.
Madueke will find it even harder than Gyokeres to force his way into the team. It is on the left that there is more of a gap, and Madueke prefers to operate from the right.
Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard have struggled to lock down the role so there is an opening. That is there for Madueke but also Eze, if a deal can be completed.
If Eze was to arrive then Arsenal's strongest team on paper would definitely change by at least a second player, and Gyokeres has a very convincing argument to be in that XI as well. How this looks on the opening weekend might not reflect the true scale of what has been an ambitious and crucial transfer window.
Arsenal may well start the season being much closer to the Arsenal that has been playing in recent years than the one leading from the summer 2025 window. There are realistically three changes to the best team and only one of them is in place to start at Old Trafford.
Beyond that, it is full focus on Gyokeres, Zubimendi, and possibly Eze to help push Arsenal over the line.
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