Keeping hold of Anthony Gordon was one of Everton's top priorities over the course of the transfer window, and perhaps the start of this campaign will show exactly why.
The winger was subject to speculation throughout the summer, from Tottenham Hotspur first showing interest in a double-swoop for him and teammate Richarlison right up until Chelsea's rumoured £60m bid in the final days. News of the latter was of course quashed by Frank Lampard, but it was clear the London club were still in the running until the Blues reached a deadline they refused to negotiate beyond.
Everton might still be looking for their first Premier League win of the season, but that's not down to the failings of Gordon. In fact, the club's last two goals have both been very well finished by the forward, whose celebration showed exactly what he thought of the noise surrounding his future.
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But it's not just those strikes that tell the story of his season so far. To get the full picture of his first six games you have to go a little deeper into his statistics.
Twitter account "@greenallefc" has done just that, providing a very interesting graphic of some key numbers behind Gordon's 2022/23 thus far. Colour-coded bar charts depict how well the Blues youngster performs against other forwards in the top division ranging from dark red to dark green, with the latter being the best.
And a quick overview shows the amount of green that Gordon has, in some really promising aspects of his game. Of course the main focus has been on not just his goals, but how many shots he has taken so far this term - but his performances have clearly been about much more than that.
It might have been easy for a player with intense transfer speculation around them to be a little distracted and thrown off their normal game. Gordon is someone who is often aggressive off the ball and has won Evertonians over with his determination and love for the shirt, and it's a testament to his fantastic attitude that he's kept that going.
He's over the 85th percentile in terms of both recoveries and tackles, while also boasting some of the most impressive figures for those in his position for pressures so far this season. It might only be a small sample size for now, but it shows that hard work is an integral part of the 21-year-old's game - and he's managing to use it to great effect for the rest of the side.
What makes his performances more impressive is that, for a fair portion of those games, he was playing out-of-position. He's not naturally a central striker in Everton's system, and perhaps some of his other statistics go to show where he lacks when playing in that role.
Numbers for assists, key passes, crosses, progressive passes and progressive carries are ones that you would typically expect to be higher for a winger. But that's not necessarily the role he has been playing.
On the other hand, those areas could certainly be ones to point to for clear improvement. He's still only 21 and is far from the finished article, having realistically had only one full season of Premier League football under his belt at this stage.
It's something that Gordon himself is desperate to improve too. Looking back to when he was given the No.10 shirt, which seems almost a lifetime ago but was only in mid-July, and he explained what his lofty aims were in that sense.
He remarked at the time: "I think for me, I've always said I want to be a top player, I don't just want to be a good player. So I want to score more goals and get more assists.
"I've said it plenty of times, that's what's going to take my game to the next level and ultimately where I want to get to. That's what I'm looking to add to my game and I'm working day in, day out on little details with the manager and Joe [Edwards] on how I can do that. So I'm looking forward to seeing how it's going to go."
In terms of goals, perhaps Evertonians are starting to see little glimpses of the next stage of Gordon's development. Granted he's not a lethal finisher as of yet, but the strikes he has bagged this season showed real awareness to beat a defence and true composure to slot them beyond goalkeepers in difficult scenarios.
For someone who had a criticism levelled at him last term that his only goals were deflected efforts, that has silenced the doubts. So, where can he take it on from here?
The return of Dominic Calvert-Lewin from injury and the arrival of Neal Maupay from Brighton should mean that Gordon is brought back out to his preferred position out wide. His role will change back into someone who is destined to create more opportunities, as well as keeping up his own goal threat.
Particularly you'd like to see his numbers in terms of crosses, progressive carries and passes into the penalty box improve as the campaign goes on as he moves back to his natural role - and perhaps the beginning of the campaign should give ultimate hope that this could happen.
He had the aim to improve in front of goal and, given the opportunity in what could have been a tricky situation, he did just that. Let's hope he can continue that progression into the other forms of his game to prove Lampard right on why he was so desperate to keep Gordon at Goodison.
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