Mikel Arteta's task at Arsenal has been underlined by their January transfer activity

Mikel Arteta's is facing a huge task to turn Arsenal’s fortunes around - and that is underlined by the January window.

Arteta has made a very positive start as Arsenal manager but took the job fully aware that there would not be huge sums to spend in the transfer market.

The long and short of it is that Arsenal went for broke last summer and spent big, gambling on their big-money deals - Nicolas Pepe, Kieran Tierney, David Luiz - getting them back into the lucrative Champions League.

Put simply… it has not worked. And Arteta has been left to pick up the pieces, an unbalanced squad in need of rebuilding on a very limited budget which is why they have had to be so creative.

They have signed Pablo Mari from Flamengo on loan with a view to a permanent deal in the summer with the transfer eventually costing around £10m.

With so many defensive injuries, they needed one in with Calum Chambers, Tierney and now Shkodran Mustafi all sidelined. Mari does that.

But, all season long, they have had issues at full back with Hector Bellerin coming back from a long term injury and Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Bukayo Saka often filling in as makeshift full backs.

That explains the deadline day move for Cedric Soares even if the Southampton full back himself has been injured and, at £5m, seems expensive as he was due to be out of contract in the summer.

But that is the way forward for Arsenal. They have got William Saliba coming in this summer and the reports on him - he joined last July but was loaned back to St Etienne for a year - have been outstanding and they really think he could be huge in the future.

However, there will be big question marks over the futures of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette this summer because both may want to go if Arsenal do not make the Champions League and they could end up being sold.

That could raise some cash… but at what cost? They signed Gabriel Martinelli for £7m last summer and Eddie Nketiah is a big prospect. But they are not ready to play week-in and week-out just yet.

So expect to see more wheeling and dealing in the months ahead, especially as now Arsenal appear to be embracing a new era with technical director Edu and head of football operations Raul Sanllehi working with super agents which was frowned upon under Arsene Wenger.

This window has been about applying some sticking plasters. Mari is a gamble and Cedric would also appear to be in that category as he has lost his way at Southampton.

These are testing times for Arteta who has a reputation as an excellent coach and will need to work with and improve players to go forward rather than rely on big signings to get the club back into the top four.

In the meantime, cut backs and trimming budgets will become even more severe with every passing year that they remain out of the Champions League.