History seems to have a funny way of repeating itself at the Emirates.
Just this summer, Arsenal found themselves in pole position to sign Emi Buendia from Norwich City, only to see their bid scuppered by a late intervention from Aston Villa.
The Argentinian had been viewed by many as the solution to the Gunners' creativity crisis, and the man to finally get the best out of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang again, and so predictably as the pictures of him holding the Villa shirt began to do the rounds on social media #EduOut began promptly trending on Twitter.
Sounds familiar doesn't it?
The meltdown this time has been prompted by Arsenal's failure to sign Bruno Guimaraes from Lyon.
The Brazilian had been linked with a move to the Emirates back since his days with Athletico Paranense in his native country, but now it appears that he is set to secure a move to Newcastle for a relatively reasonable fee of around £33 million.
It's easy to understand the outrage.
Central midfield is a position the Gunners have clearly needed to strengthen in for a while now. That has only been amplified this month by the fact that Albert Sambi Lokonga has been the only senior option available for games against Nottingham Forest, Liverpool and Burnley.
Thomas Partey and Granit Xhaka are two top quality players despite recent red cards, but there is little doubt that there is scope for an improvement in the alternatives beyond them, with Mohamed Elneny, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Matteo Guendouzi and Lucas Torreira all set to seal permanent exits this summer.
As someone who rarely gives the ball away while possessing decent defensive positional awareness, Guimaraes appeared to be the exact upgrade Arsenal were looking for.
But before the outrage gets too acute, it's worth remembering what happened in the summer.
After failing to sign Buendia, the Gunners went on to sign Martin Odegaard for Real Madrid for a slightly lesser fee. Since then the Norwegian has gone on to become an integral part of Mikel Arteta's side managing four goals and three assists in 14 Premier League starts. The 23-year-old's form has in fact been so good, that many view him as a legitimate contender to succeed Alexandre Lacazette as club captain next season.
Clubs rarely have just one target for a position and beyond Guimaraes there will be others who Arsenal are looking at.
football.london understands that Edu is still trying to thrash out a deal to sign Arthur on loan from Juventus until the end of the season, while Renato Sanches of Lille and PSG's Gini Wijnaldum have also been linked.
There of course is also the possibility that they chose to go with what they've currently got until the end of the season and then go big in the summer. Given the presence of talented youngsters Charlie Patino and Salah-Eddine Oulad M'Hand in the academy set up, and the lack of cup matches for the rest of the campaign, this is something they can just about pull off.
In his press conference following the 0-0 draw with Burnley on Sunday, Arteta revealed that the Gunners would only look to bring in players who he felt would "raise the level" of the current squad during the closing day of January.
After a transfer window in the summer which saw them obtain pretty much a six out of six hit rate thanks to the signings of Nuno Tavares, Albert Sambi Lokonga, Ben White, Aaron Ramsdale, Martin Odegaard and Takehiro Tomiyasu, it's fair to say that the Spaniard and Edu have earned the right to decide what fits that description.
Missing out on Guimaraes was a disappointment, but only time will tell if it turns out to be the disaster many are claiming it to be.
