In December 2018, Martin Braithwaite was stuck, freezing and frostbitten, to the Riverside bench, watching on helplessly as his Middlesbrough side were thumped 3-0 at home by Aston Villa in the Championship.
It is safe to assume he didn’t see this coming.
Because, almost two years to the day since a Tammy Abraham-inspired Villa left Braithwaite wondering what his career had come to, the Denmark international was celebrating yet another Barcelona goal in the Champions League.
Two weeks ago, Braithwaite had scored just once in Barca colours with reports suggesting coach Ronald Koeman was ready to boot him out the door in January.
Flash forward to the present day and, suddenly, an £18 million afterthought is the newly-crowned King of Catalonia.
Well, that may be a little far fetched. Lionel Messi still rules the roost around there, but at least Braithwaite now resembles a reliable Knight of the realm rather than the unfortunate court jester.
After netting twice in Kiev and once against Osasuna on Sunday, Braithwaite converted a perfectly-weighted Jordi Alba cross to set Barca on their way to a 3-0 win in Ferencvaros on Wednesday.
He even stepped aside to allow the previously out-of-form Ousmane Dembele to convert a confidence-boosting penalty and put Barcelona two up on the night.
When Sport claimed a fortnight ago that Leeds United and West Ham wanted to take Braithwaite off their hands, cash-strapped Barcelona must have thought Christmas had come early.
Now, however, there is a reasonable case to be made that a Barca XI with Braithwaite in it is better than one without.
The Dane gives Barca a much-needed focal point and, perhaps most crucially, appears key to making the Lionel Messi-Antoine Griezmann axis work.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
