A couple of weeks into the Premier League season and at a time when Erling Haaland’s goal tally stood at an altogether more modest nine, Manchester City snuck another signing from Borussia Dortmund into the building.
There was less fanfare about this one. Haaland had arrived from Germany for big money specifically tasked with elevating City to yet another new level.
His old team-mate Manuel Akanji was cheaper — at just £15million — and certainly less well known, his arrival driven in part by a late summer injury crisis at centre half.