At the start of January if you had told Newcastle United fans their club would sign a £40m midfielder described by some as 'one of the best in Europe,' the only thing that would have got a bigger laugh would be the suggestion he'd be on the bench for his first two games.
But as luck would have it, that's exactly what has happened with Bruno Guimaraes, the Brazilian signed from Lyon.
Yet there's no questioning the Toon head coach Eddie Howe for his decision to leave Guimaraes on the bench - if anything, it's a welcome show of strength and decisiveness from Howe. But more than that, fans can totally see why Guimaraes has only been afforded around 10 minutes of playing time in the first two games he's been available - and it's down to Joelinton, Jonjo Shelvey and Joe Willock stepping up in the face of competition.
Aside from Guimaraes' quality, the hope was always that his arrival would push those in the same position to go up a level and there is no doubting in recent weeks that has happened.
Joelinton has been a different character since Howe took over, and once again put in a solid shift against Aston Villa completing the game with the most touches (44), winning the most duels (12) and making the most tackles (6), and in truth is probably not in consideration to drop out for when Guimaraes finally make his first start.
In fact, the idea being touted is that Guimaraes and Joelinton play together with one of Willock or Shelvey to take the other spot.
A month ago, the decision would have been an easy one but Willock has begun to look like the player which convinced Newcastle to sign him on a permanent basis, while Shelvey has had two of his best games at the club in recent weeks.
One of the criticisms of Willock this season is that he at times looked like he was running through cement but in the previous three weeks we've seen a return to the midfielder - minus the goals - that rocked Tyneside last January.
In the previous three games - Willock has carried the 447 yards with 235 yards of that going forward, only Allan Saint-Maximin doing more.
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In fact, Willock's ball-carrying forward tallies as just four yards less than Shelvey's total yards in any direction.
Willock across the season has carried the ball a total of 2478 yards, only Joelinton (2757) and Saint-Maximin (5549) have gone further.
He's also made 18 successful pressures out of 73, and also begun to find the desire to shoot again.
Joelinton and Shelvey have also made decent cases to keep their spot for the forthcoming game against West Ham this Saturday, the pair playing important roles in United three wins on the bounce.
The big number seven is particularly useful when it comes to breaking up the opposition in the middle of the park winning the ball 24 times across the last three games - more than any other player in black and white.
He's also showing his strength when it comes to passing - ranking with an 82% success rate in the previous three games as he completed 53 passes out of 64. Both Shelvey and Willock also rank highly - with a 78% and 75% success rate.
And when it comes to Joelinton being a target, he's also showing his worth - receiving 534 passes from an attempted 687 passes, only Saint-Maximin once again ranking higher.
Intriguingly, it's clear to see that despite Joelinton keen to get his foot stuck in - he's more at home in the middle or attacking thirds of the pitch - ranking once again only behind Saint-Maximin when it comes to touches in those areas.
Shelvey ranks highest out of the trio with 212 touches in the defensive third of the pitch which may give Howe something to think about when it comes to that protective layer to the backline.
All this comes without a mention of Sean Longstaff, someone who Howe described as 'unlucky' not to feature against Everton.
Speaking about the decision in the midfield, Howe said: "I believe in rewarding players who perform well. I'm not someone who openly wants to change the team for changes' sake.
"Players also have to earn their place in the team, and I'm not just going to give them that. So the players that come in have added a real competition for places, that's a massive thing for us and I'm delighted with that."
But the very fact United find themselves with a dilemma of who drop due to an uptake in performances can only be a good thing and as Howe noted it's something to be 'delighted' about.
