Four and a half years on from agreeing to join Chelsea, seven managers appointed both permanently and temporarily in that time - Frank Lampard repeated twice - and almost two times as many games missed as goals scored, Christian Pulisic is set to leave the club.
His spell in West London brings to an end one of the more disappointing transfers of the past decade for the Blues, who have had many. In terms of promise, few were as widely revered across the world when he joined. The fact that he started his life at the club under different management to that of which he was brought in was just a precursor for frustration that would linger on and prove unshakeable.
He is now set to move on to pastures new. Less spotlight, less vitriol and less underlying pressure from fans, pundits and the league as a whole. Pulisic's chance to shine and pave a way forward is still very much there. At 24 he has much to anticipate in the next years of his career and will be hoping to prove Chelsea wrong.
Although when he does finally sign for AC Milan there will likely be little room for actually pointing back to his time at Stamford Bridge and saying 'I told you so,' there is an element of making a case for himself, here. Pulisic has been scrutinised, analysed and picked out unlike many 20-year-old's that move to the league.
The pressure of being USA's beacon of hope mixed with desires to fill the boots of club legend Eden Hazard now leaves him as an outsider in this summer of transfers. He isn't the most expensive, nor high profile, nor important sale of the window. His exit comes after the initial flurry of departures and he won't even make the pre-season tour of America first.
Like much of his Chelsea career, Pulisic is on the outside looking in and his agreement to join AC Milan now plays a bigger part in the wider Blues summer plan than it does create waves as a standalone transfer. Chelsea will receive £18.9 million ($24.2m) for the player, three times less than they paid for him.
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Considering this is a commercial and marketing goldmine with over six years of European football experience, captaining his country and with a hopeful peak still ahead of him, to do such a thing is evidence of all the mistakes along the way. Kai Havertz, for example, was signed for £62m ($79m) as a 20-year-old, stayed for three largely inconsistent and underwhelming seasons and was sold for a profit to Arsenal this summer.
Pulisic, though, was effectively flogged for as much as possible and the only financial gain is that Chelsea will recoup more than his book value when it comes to accounts. Other than that there is little time or necessary fanfare needed over his move. This only helps Todd Boehly-Clearlake Capital move on quicker.
The systematic errors at Chelsea that have lead to Pulisic's early sale with such ease and dysfunction are everything that the new owners wish to move away from. Even in his final moments, Pulisic is more of a symbol than a player.
At the same time, Chelsea are yet to make a major signing in this window - Christopher Nkunku agreed to join over the winter and is a seperate case. They still have major surgery left to be done when it comes to arrivals and the sale of Pulisic now takes their total summer incomings to a staggering £236million ($302.9m) having not yet come close to finishing.
That is close to their total expenditure in January and runs the summer window tally close as well. Not only has it relieved some pressure on the bloated squad, Pulisic's sale is the last of the easily achievable pieces of business. Finding suitors for an injured Hakim Ziyech, 34-year-old Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang or diminished Romelu Lukaku is much harder than selling a player of Pulisic's undoubted quality.
Therefore, now he can be considered as all but a Milan player, it raises the immediate necessity of bringing in players themselves. Moises Caicedo is the primary target and, though progressing at a snail's pace, is now open season for Chelsea to pursue.
He is the main player that funds are much needed for. A striker, be that Dusan Vlahovic, Rasmus Hojlund or even Victor Osimhen, is the next area of serious concern. Finding another midfielder to partner Caicedo and go alongside Enzo Fernandez, perhaps Romeo Lavia, is then the third.
There is certainly plenty to be getting on with as the post-Pulisic Chelsea get to work. With failings from top to bottom over many managers, masses of teammates and two owner regimes, the loss of such a talent for a tiny price after four seasons is only further evidence of everything the new Chelsea want to avoid.
