The secret to Jesse Lingard’s resurrection? A personal chef, pounding Manchester pavements with Ravel Morrison and an introduction to London life with Declan Rice and Mark Noble.
Lingard’s season had been going nowhere, but now he’s on the verge of leading West Ham to the Champions League and en route to the Euros.
Yet there is nothing coincidental about his revival, a story of a man close to rock-bottom yet finding the strength to maintain professionalism.
Three cup appearances for Manchester United was all he had to show for the first five months of the season.