In the third minute of second-half injury time on Saturday, Netherlands manager Louis van Gaal made a tactical substitution to ensure his side safely reached the World Cup quarter final.
He took off Manchester City defender Nathan Ake, who has started every game so far in Qatar, and replaced him with a centre-back further down the pecking order. That replacement was Bayern Munich's Matthijs de Ligt - a player once strongly linked with City before Ake had even joined.
Three years ago, De Ligt was one of world football's hottest properties and touted as a key player in the future of Dutch football. Ake was playing for Bournemouth and struggling for games for the Netherlands, however it is to his credit that few are complaining that Ake is now undisputedly ahead of De Ligt for his country.
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In 2019, City needed a new centre-back after Vincent Kompany's emotional departure. They had Aymeric Laporte, the aging Nicolas Otamendi, the out-of-form John Stones, and young prospect Eric Garcia - but wanted someone else to replace their iconic captain.
Harry Maguire, Kalidou Koulibaly and De Ligt were on the market, and City were willing to spend big for a new leader for their defence. Leicester's £80m asking price for Maguire was too much, with Manchester United more desperate and winning a race that City had long-since withdrawn from. Similarly, trying to sign Koulibaly from Napoli and their president Aurelio Di Laurentiis was far from the straightforward transaction that City prefer.
That left De Ligt, who was strongly linked with City along with a handful of Europe's other elite clubs. City don't like to be involved in too many bidding wars for players, and De Ligt's destination never appeared to be the Premier League. Juventus beat Bayern Munich to his signature for £67m, and City were left without a new centre-back for 2019/20.
When Laporte was injured early into the campaign, and Stones' off-field problems heavily impacted his on-field form, Fernandinho was drafted back as City's most reliable centre-back. That season, it felt as though the decision to walk away from a centre-back in the summer was the wrong one.
So it was hardly a surprise in 2020 that City would go and spend over £100m on centre-backs, albeit with Otamendi's departure recouping some of that cost. Ruben Dias arrived and instantly shored up the back line, while Ake was signed for £40m towards the start of the window from relegated Bournemouth.
As De Ligt did well in Italy, Ake went from regular football in a relegated side to barely playing in a team competing for the title. He was still scrapping for minutes for the Netherlands, either playing on the left of a back three or as a makeshift left-back. Fast-forward two seasons, and Ake is finally first choice for club and country.
His turnaround can be credited to an attitude often hailed by Pep Guardiola, and a determination to fight for his place rather than leave when there were offers in the summer. Ake has stepped up this season, even with Stones' revival, Dias' reliability and Manuel Akanji's form since signing. When Dias and Laporte, or Dias and Stones, looked like title-winning partnerships, now it's Ake and Akanji who are first-choice at City.
And Ake's form has also earned him a starting spot for his country, and his World Cup performances justify that status. To say De Ligt has been benched for Ake is evidence of the City defender's brilliant turnaround in the last two years. To illustrate how much Ake has progressed under Guardiola and bought into the City approach, only Stones has carried the ball further out of defence than the Dutchman, with the top four players for that particular statistic all Blues defenders.
Contrast that with De Ligt, who has since signed for Bayern Munich, and recently suggested he didn't expect to play any minutes for the Netherlands in Qatar - hinting at a disagreement with Van Gaal. On form, though, he may not have played much anyway ahead of Ake.
Looking back, City are stronger for not signing De Ligt in 2019, and turning to Ake a year later - they're £27m better off, too.
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