The Premier League season was just a few weeks old when Phil Foden laid down the gauntlet for a statement-making season, and the raised eyebrows from back in September are distant memories now.
Manchester City had started like a train, winning their first four games as they looked to push for a fourth straight title. Star playmaker Kevin De Bruyne had picked up an injury just minutes into the season, but the prospect of using Foden in a more central role was being floated and beginning to work.
Foden opened up about feeling "alive" in the central role at the time, but not everyone was convinced. Be it a desire to see him run at defenders from out wide or concerns about his presence in the middle, questions were being asked.
Eight months on, those questions have largely disappeared. Foden has won the Football Writers' Association player of the year award, after a season in which he has really come into his own.
"I think the one I played in against Newcastle, that's my favourite one, that's where I feel comfortable," Foden said in September. "I felt alive in that game, I felt myself more and I could get on the ball and do things. That's always been me as a player and hopefully I can keep playing there and show people what I can do. It [the position] is one I can handle.
"There's a lot of responsibility, it's not just about going forward. You have to know what you're doing defensively and know who is around you. But, it's one that I can definitely do and I'm looking forward, if I can play there more often, what I can do in there.
"I'm used to [rotation from manager Pep Guardiola] but hopefully I can keep playing a lot of football now because Kev is injured and I'm needed for the team. So I hope I can fulfil that position and try to do good things there."
Is Phil Foden a worthy winner of the FWA award? Have your say in the comments section
Last season's top scorer Erling Haaland has started just 25 league games this season after his injury woes, while for De Bruyne the number is just 11. In their absence, only Julian Alvarez and Rodri have started more games than Foden in the league, ahd the 23-year-old has taken full advantage.
His 16 league goals is a career high for a single season, one more than England team-mate Bukayo Saka and the same number as Spurs captain Son Heung-min in fewer minutes. His five Champions League goals have him level with Real Madrid pair Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo, and only a penalty shoot-out ensured it's them rather than him in this season's semi-finals.
The recent Premier League win at Brighton was a great example of Foden's growth this season. Not only did he score twice against the Seagulls, the second the kind of instinctive finish which hit the back of the net quicker than others might have picked their spot, but it was a game in which he was confident pulling the strings and taking full charge.
The season began with Foden scoring what you might consider typical Guardiola's City goals. Putting away cutbacks, pinning defenders back before finding half a yard, and, largely, providing the finishing touch to moves after the team as a unit gave themselves the best percentage chance of finding the net - simple but effective stuff.
As the season has gone on, though, the ambition has grown. Foden's curler against Real Madrid was the kind of goal he wasn't scoring earlier in the campaign, but it was a real "I'm him" moment from the Englishman.
Even if it ends up being De Bruyne or Haaland who gets City over the line in the title race - and Haaland's clincher at Nottingham Forest suggests that could yet be the case - it's thanks to Foden that there's been a job to finish. In another year, the fine form of the departed Cole Palmer might have proved painful for Guardiola's team, but it's plain to see why his path to the team was being blocked.
The question now is whether Foden will be afforded the chance to reprise the central role for his country at Euro 2024. Back in September, international manager Southgate suggested there was "a reason" why he hadn't done so with regularity at City - something which has now changed.
"It depends on the level of the game, really," Southgate said. "In the middle of the park, everyone wants to talk about the with the ball but there is a lot of detail without the ball, and in games at the weekend, you are playing opponents who are so clever with their passing and movement that you have to be spot on with your responsibilities."
Ultimately, it could boil down to the depth of options elsewhere. Southgate used Jude Bellingham in a more advanced midfield role for the March friendlies against Brazil and Belgium, with Foden out wide, while Palmer has also thrived in a more central role at club level.
There's less obvious competition on the left, where the likes of Marcus Rashford and Jack Grealish haven't been at their best at club level this season, and that's where Foden lined up against Belgium. Whether that's Southgate's plan for the Euros opener against Serbia is a different matter, but there are more factors at play than in City's set-up.
For now, though, we need look no further than City's final four games of the Premier League season. It's a chance for Foden to show he has more big-game moments to cap off a standout season, and no one would put it past him to make the difference when it really matters.
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