Ross Barkley approaches 2021 at Aston Villa with the perfect platform to finally fulfil the rich potential that has marked him out as one of English football's great natural talents of the last decade.
Barkley, who recently turned 27, produced a series of outstanding displays at the start of his loan move to Villa Park from Chelsea before being struck down by a hamstring injury in the first minute of the home defeat by Brighton on 21 November.
In so many ways this is Barkley's career in microcosm, a player of great gifts who has sparked spectacularly at Everton, Chelsea and Villa without ever fully igniting on a consistent basis, stalled just as he was producing his finest form.