Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang 's move from Arsenal to Barcelona has already made enough headlines, but the Gunners' latest transfer saga brings with it plenty of baggage.
After the striker was stripped of the captaincy and frozen out of the first-team squad by manager Mikel Arteta, he jetted off to Catalonia on transfer deadline day and within 48 hours, his mega-money contract was terminated.
That deal, of course, was the result of a strenuous few months in 2020 in which Aubameyang needed plenty of convincing to stay put in north London, ultimately bagging a £350,000-a-week pay package.
Yet when all was said and done just 16 months later, Aubameyang left for free - nothing, zilch, despite his deal having two-and-a-half years left to run.
The transfer, while likely to have put a smile on Arteta's face after their well-documented fallout, is symptomatic of a wider issue at the Emirates which has seen Arsenal lose a total of £182million on a host of star names in recent years.
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A raft of players, headed by the likes of Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil were purchased as part of that eye-watering figure, and also walked out on the Gunners on free transfers that date back to when Arsene Wenger was at the helm.
Technically, Sanchez's departure to Manchester United was in return for Henrikh Mkhitaryan 's services - only for him to make 59 appearances before being shipped out of the Emirates for (you guessed it) nothing.
But the reason that the former ferocious forward left in such a fashion is because he had entered the final 12 months of his contract, knowing full well he could leave for free just a few months later.
Ozil became the club's record signing in a £42.5million deal on September 2, 2013 - what should have been a watershed moment for the north Londoners.
The German unquestionably had a positive impact over seven-and-a-half seasons, but he agreed to terminate his contract in January 2021 and subsequently signed for Turkish giants Fenerbahce.
Aaron Ramsey was another who walked out without recouping any of the £5million that Arsenal splashed out on him as a teenager at Cardiff City.
The Gunners lost the Welsh wizard to Juventus midway through the 2018-19 season, with Ramsey having claimed that the club withdrew an offer earlier in the campaign.
The same occurred with academy graduate Jack Wilshere, who opted to turn down a new deal and seek pastures new during his injury-hit and still ongoing career, just a few years after being touted as English football's next best thing.
Foreign imports Bacary Sagna and Andrey Arshavin arrived under Wenger's watch for a combined fee of £22.95m, a large sum in the Barclays Premier League era.
And, sadly, Santi Cazorla left in 2018 following a horrific ankle that kept him out for almost two full terms.
Yet the silky Spaniard went on to star for Villarreal, while Unai Emery 's side saw a significant dip in creativity compared to the Wenger years.
Had Arsenal had foresight and not left the vast majority of the aforementioned decisions until the eleventh hour, the Gunners could now be a whole lot richer and technical director Edu may well have had a happier start to the year.
