The two men came face to face as Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City squared off this weekend.
They say a picture paints a thousand words, so what does the image capturing a halfhearted embrace between Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino and his former player Kyle Walker say about their relationship?
An expert in body language would probably focus on the Spurs boss keeping one hand in his pocket while staring off into the distance, perhaps thinking about the future of the club rather than the recently-departed past.
But the simple fact is whatever the two men were thinking, it is clear they had different focuses ahead of the new campaign.
Pochettino wanted players he could rely on to do the job asked of them; players who want to fight for the cause at Tottenham despite knowing they could earn considerably more elsewhere.
And Walker wanted a new challenge, albeit in the same league at a club that finished below Spurs last season.
The two men knew they would be reunited soon after Walker’s big-money move to Manchester City, and while the Blues drew first blood, fans should not read too much into Tottenham’s heavy defeat.
When the competitive action kicks off, these two sides will be at lot closer than Saturday’s result suggested.
Tottenham have a considerably larger kitty following Walker’s departure, but the trick is spending it wisely to ensure the England international is ultimately left to rue his decision, not the other way round.
That will not be Pochettino’s motivating factor, far from it, yet he would have been forgiven for already thinking about beating City when it really counts, and when a hug between the two could be frostier than ever.
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