Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp is set to enjoy the best kind of headache a manager can endure when the club completes the signing of Sadio Mane - genuine options.
The sizeable £30million fee agreed with Southampton will place enormous pressure on the Senegalese forward, who undertook a medical on Monday and completed his move on Tuesday, but Mane brings plenty to the table at Anfield.
Raw speed, goals - his 11 last season from midfield were more than any Reds player managed - and the ability to be destructive out wide or through the middle make him a tantalising prospect. Not that Klopp isn't aware of what he offers having failed to sign Mane at Borussia Dortmund.
Where the 24-year-old will fit among a host of attacking talent that includes Roberto Firmino, Philippe Coutinho and Adam Lallana, who can all play in behind a striker or be deployed wider, is an exciting prospect.
A combination of three of the four in behind Sturridge would appear to be Klopp's most obvious line-up, with Mane wreaking havoc from the right wing with licence to come inside and run at defenders.
Mane brings pace that Klopp's existing weapons, other than a fit Daniel Sturridge, don't match and give Liverpool a far greater capacity to stretch defences.
Klopp hasn't been afraid to play without a traditional No.9 either, using Firmino in the role, and he could do so again with Mane and Coutinho behind him in a three-pronged attack.
These options forget the fact that Mane is just as happy in behind the striker at No.10 as he is in his perceived primary position out wide. He started centrally 18 out of 30 starts, so that is clearly where Ronald Koeman thought him most useful. Although his two goals there as opposed the five in nine starts in a wide role begs to differ.
The price tag is of the scale that would usually see Mane expected to be the main man for Klopp, whose been left with limited forward options since his arrival due to Danny Ings and Daniel Sturridge's injuries and the poor form of £32.5m man Christian Benteke.
Divock Origi has shown encouraging signs for the future but isn't yet ready to take the weight of goal-scoring responsibilities on his shoulders.
Mane, however, has proven to be Premier League material since being plucked from obscurity in Austria and will solve more problems than he creates when Klopp scribbles onto his teamsheet.
He's accustomed to a hard-working, high-tempo pressing game from his two seasons at St Mary's so will have no problem adapting to Klopp's philosophy.
Mane's 11 goals last Premier League season were supplemented by six assists - only James Milner and Firmino offered more for the Reds.
They're good numbers, but are undoubtedly streaky. Eight of Mane's 11 goals came in the last eight games of the season - he suffered a 16-game goalless run in his 37 appearances.
Liverpool chasing a game should be a sight to behold though. With everyone fit Klopp could use Origi up top with Sturridge - an enticing long-term plan - with Mane in behind and Coutinho partnering Jordan Henderson in the centre of midfield.
That hypothetical leaves Lallana as a spectator. Mane might not be the big name Reds fans want, but that sort of depth is much closer to acceptable for a club that considers a top-four finish the bare minimum.
