Mikel Arteta left with no margin for error after startling Arsenal overhaul

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta wasn't left with the easiest task when he took over from Unai Emery in 2019, but few anticipated the scale and speed of squad makeover we would see at the Emirates Stadium.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is the latest in a long list of players to leave north London during Arteta's time in charge, leaving the Gunners light up front, while the January window was more or less one-way traffic.

Just one player arrived in January, with Auston Trusty clinching a deadline day switch, while Aubameyang was one of several to move on either permanently or on loan.

Much has been made of the fact that Arteta has signed players in every position besides striker - not for lack of trying - but what's just as striking is the huge overhaul of the squad built by Emery and Arsene Wenger before him.

Arteta was extremely new to management when his first window came around. As in "less than a fortnight into his first ever managerial job".

He had barely had enough time to look at the squad he was taking over, but he knew bodies were needed, even if just on loan.

Pablo Mari and Cedric Soares were the first two additions, with the only exits in that first window involving loan moves for fringe players, and both arrivals did enough to earn permanent - if low-key - moves at the end of the season.

"When he joined the club he hadn’t played for a long time and he had a little niggle as well when he joined us, but his attitude and commitment has been really, really good and highly surprising," Arteta said of Mari, who moved on loan to Udinese in January 2022.

Cedric is still on Arsenal's books, but remains a back-up. The only difference is the identity of the man ahead of him in the queue.

After a few months in charge,