The closing of the transfer window, a little over an hour after full-time in West Ham’s 2-1 defeat at Chelsea on Monday night, will have come as a relief to Graham Potter.
Twenty-seven days after taking over, he is finally free of the need to juggle dual priorities, to wonder what his squad will look like by the end of deadline day.
Potter can now truly set to work with a clear mind, knowing where he stands, as he seeks to get West Ham going in the second half of a season that is now basically a free hit, with there being nothing meaningful left for them to play for.
The 49-year-old will be pleased to have the January window behind him, but also to have strengthened his attack.
Evan Ferguson’s arrival on a straight loan from Brighton reunites him with Potter, under whom he became one of English football’s best teenage talents a few years ago. His game time then fell away under Roberto De Zerbi - and fell off a cliff under Fabian Hurzeler.
It is a risk-free signing, with Ferguson desperate for Premier League minutes and certain to get them at a club so lacking a prolific striker (and right now lacking any fit and available strikers at all, Danny Ings aside).
Ferguson, 20, could well lead the line for a couple of months, with Jarrod Bowen and Mohammed Kudus flanking him on either side, and it could be even longer if he hits the ground running and convinces Potter to keep Niclas Fullkrug on the bench once the big German returns from a hamstring injury.
It was no secret West Ham wanted a striker in January, and that saw them enquire about - but ultimately fail to sign - a whole host of names.
Jhon Duran, Andre Silva, Brian Brobbey, Ricardo Pepi and Eli Junior Kroupi were all targets. In the end, though, West Ham won the hotly-contested race for their top target by securing Ferguson.
West Ham’s January business was completed with the deadline-day return of James Ward-Prowse from his loan at high-flying Nottingham Forest, who do not need him anywhere near as much as Potter.
Ex-manager Julen Lopetegui’s view that Ward-Prowse would best serve West Ham by being elsewhere always felt a misguided call. His free-kick and corner deliveries were key in David Moyes’s final season and those crisp crosses have now been restored to the Hammers’ armoury.
And parking Ward-Prowse’s set pieces, his all-round game effectively gives Potter a second Tomas Soucek, capable of playing in a double pivot or, when short of attackers, in the No10 position instead.
“It’s always a bit meandering in the window,” Potter said, “But it [getting Ward-Prowse back] was something we were aware of.”
Potter will greatly value the added depth Ferguson and Ward-Prowse provide, but the same cannot be said in defence.
Kyle Macaulay, Potter’s trusted transfer guru who he prised away from Chelsea, was running the numbers and pursuing the options as the club attempted to sign another centre-back before the close of the window. The fact one never arrived marks the sore spot of the West Ham’s January business.
Jean-Clair Todibo has had a torrid injury record since joining, while Konstantinos Mavropanos has struggled, hence only appearing from the bench at Stamford Bridge on Monday.
His possibilities thus so limited, Potter had to deploy 35-year-old left-back Aaron Cresswell and 32-year-old right-back Vladimir Coufal in his back three.
That is not sustainable, with more than three months of the season still to play, placing pressure on Todibo to find fitness and Mavropanos form.
All the more need for Ward-Prowse and, particularly, Ferguson to hit the ground running.
