New signings are all well and good but sometimes keeping what you already have is far more important. That's where Manchester City and Arsenal have differed this summer.
Following on from their intense Premier League title race that ended with the Blues running down their prey like a prehistoric pack of hunters, their triumph should not detract from how good Arsenal were for the majority of the season.
To go from finishing fifth the previous year to shrinking the gap between the clubs by nearly 20 points is a great achievement even if it didn't feel like one at the end. Now Mikel Arteta has to ensure it wasn't just a flash in the pan, a rare alignment of the stars that they allowed to pass them by, a one-off. Arsenal need to build upon their progress and try and go one step closer, while City need to make sure their dominance does not wane.
But it's the Gunners who have made the stronger start so far this summer and not just through their transfer business. At present, City have weakened since their Champions League final triumph due to the departure of Ilkay Gundogan. The Blues have said goodbye to several legends in recent years but none like this.
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While the likes of David Silva, Vincent Kompany and Fernandinho were obviously on the decline, Gundogan is playing perhaps the best football of his career. The German played more matches last season than Kompany played in his last two. He remained an integral part of Guardiola's team and provided crucial goals in the biggest of games. Losing him is a hammer blow.
Mateo Kovacic has been signed to at least replenish the numbers in midfield but the club itself doesn't see him as a direct replacement after making a move to sign Declan Rice. Kovacic may well be able to replicate Gundogan's role to the same high standard but we won't know for sure until we see him in action.
Instead of losing one of their most important players like City, Arsenal will actually be keeping theirs. It's reported that William Saliba has agreed a new four-year contract, with the official announcement due this week.
The centre-back was fantastic last season, making a solid foundation for the rest of the team to be built upon. Arsenal kept 12 clean sheets out of the 27 Premier League games he played in and he was a real leader of the back line. It was only when Saliba picked up a back injury that ended his season early did Arsenal fall away.
The run of three costly draws in a row came two games after losing Saliba and they lost three and drew three of the 11 games the Frenchman was unavailable for, the exact same number of matches they dropped points in the 27 matches he did play. That's a clear sign of how crucial Saliba is to the side and Gabriel Jesus even admitted losing him cost them the title.
“When he plays we concede few goals, when he doesn’t play the number (goals conceded) increases,” he said on The Denilson Show. “When I got injured, Eddie [Nketiah] replaced me very well. Then we signed Leo [Trossard]. We kept the pace.
“But when Saliba got injured, it was complicated. The other defenders are good, but we were playing in a certain way. Look at the stats, we concede a lot less with him.”
Keeping Saliba is fantastic in itself but then when you add the signing of Declan Rice - who they beat City in the race for - who should take their midfield to a higher level, the potential for Kai Havertz to add a different dynamic in attack and the likely addition of Jurrien Timber to sure up the back further, Arsenal have made great strides to ensure they are City's biggest rivals once again.
The Blues can remain confident in their own class but with Arsenal looking even better and others gearing up to make a serious challenge, the title may be even tougher to regain this time around.
