West Ham United have already played their first pre-season friendly and are now a month away from kicking off a new Premier League campaign, yet David Moyes' side have still yet to make their first signing of the summer.
What players are West Ham signing?
The Hammers' entire transfer activity to date has centred around captain Declan Rice's £105m switch to Arsenal, which looked close to completion last month but has since dragged on.
It may well be that West Ham are waiting for confirmation of that move going through before announcing signings of their own, with Juventus midfielder Denis Zakaria and Real Betis centre-back Luiz Felipe both reportedly close to joining.
Moyes could still do with another central midfielder, a striker and even a couple of full-backs, having seen his side spend most of last season sweating over their Premier League status.
According to The Sun's print edition [Tuesday 11th July, page 51], the Irons remain interested in signing defender Max Aarons, who Norwich City have made available to purchase this summer for £15m.
What position does Max Aarons play?
Aarons' potential arrival would spell bad news for Vladimir Coufal, who was West Ham's most-used player at right-back and right wing-back last season with 31 appearances there in all competitions, as per WhoScored.
Coufal came in for heavy criticism at times last season, though he did improve and wrote his name in club folklore by playing a full part in their Europa Conference League final victory against Fiorentina.
However, bringing in a replacement in that position is surely one of Moyes' priorities this summer, which certainly seems to be the case if the repeated links with Aarons are anything to go by.
Aarons has spent his entire senior career to date with Norwich, making 213 appearances for the Canaries across the past five seasons – 70 of those coming in the Premier League.
The 23-year-old has top-flight experience, then, but it is in the Championship where he currently plies his trade. Aarons, who was part of England U21's triumphant European Championship side, played in 45 of Norwich's 46 league games last time out, starting all but one of those.
Described as "outstanding" by former England U21 boss Aidy Boothroyd for his consistent performances, Aarons scored once and assisted three more last season, showing more of an attacking threat than Coufal at West Ham (one assist and no goals).
While it is a little unfair to compare the two players given they played in different divisions last season, the numbers still give a good understanding of where the pair's strengths and weaknesses lie.
Aarons fired away 0.47 shots per 90 minutes, as per FBref, compared to 0.25 for the more reserved Coufal, while the Norwich ace also came out on top for pass-completion percentage (79.2 v 62.2) and successful take-ons per 90 (1.24 v 0.13).
Coufal is a lot stronger in the air, winning 64.5% of his aerial duels to Aarons' 37%, while also coming out on top in terms of tackles and interceptions combined per 90 (4.05 v 3.08).
Ultimately, Aarons is a more attack-minded full-back than Coufal, but one who is also capable of defending.
If Moyes is indeed looking to twist in that area of the pitch rather than sticking with what he has, Aarons looks as good a choice as anyone to sign.