Juventus are buying one of the most influential and battle-hardened central midfielders in European football by luring Arsenal captain Patrick Vieira away from Highbury.
The 29-year-old from Dakar was the founding stone of Arsene Wenger's French revolution in 1996 and his iron will to succeed has been key to their subsequent haul of seven major domestic trophies.
Having rejected offers from Real Madrid in recent years, many expected France's 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000 winner to finish his career at Arsenal, and help bring on his potential successor, Spanish teenager Francesc Fabregas.
Instead, the lure of a Champions League winners' medal is likely to be behind his decision to swap a team of perennial underperformers on the biggest stage to a club that has reached four European Cup finals in the last 10 years.
The irony of a return to Italy will not be lost on Juve's manager Fabio Capello, who was in charge at rivals AC Milan when they signed Vieira as a gangly teenager.
A product of the youth academy at French club Cannes, Milan snapped up Vieira in November 1995 -- only to play him in just two league games.
After months spent languishing in Milan's reserves, Vieira needed little prompting by Wenger, before he was even formally appointed as manager, to sign for Arsenal in August.
Wenger arrived a month later and his young protege made an inspired debut in September, helping to turn a 1-1 draw into a resounding 4-1 win over Sheffield Wednesday.
CRUNCHING TACKLES
By the final whistle, the Highbury crowd were chanting his name and a song "He comes from Senegal, he plays for Arsenal, Ve-e-era" would become familiar in the years that followed.
Then, as now, Vieira's game was based on a combative ball-winning spirit, with the sometimes crunching tackles allied to some precise passing and real vision.
However, that overriding desire to stamp his authority on the middle of the park also brought him 10 red cards, a reputation as a hot-head and a long-running feud with Manchester United captain Roy Keane.
The Frenchman's unexpected departure will leave a gaping hole in Arsenal's midfield, where Fabregas has shown poise and authority beyond his years but has only spent one season in the top-flight.
New signing Alexander Hleb of Belarus was expected to be complementary to Vieira and charged with filling the gap left by the departed Edu, now at Valencia.
Though they will pocket 20 million euros (13.7 million pounds), Arsenal will struggle to replace a man who laid the foundations of a team that Wenger rounded out with the flair of fellow Frenchmen Thierry Henry and Robert Pires.
Vieira's absence is clearly a blow to Arsenal. But at least he went out on a high, converting the final penalty in their FA Cup final shootout victory over Keane's United in Cardiff two months ago.
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