Waking up on his day off, Cole Palmer opened his phone to a message asking how quickly he could get to Manchester Airport.
Illness to Joao Cancelo had prompted Pep Guardiola to name Palmer in the Manchester City squad for the first time. It was June 25, 2020, and an 18-year-old Palmer flew to London to take his place on the bench against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
Palmer took the same journey this summer, when he joined the Blues for £42million, and lit up the same fixture when he scored a dramatic late equaliser on Sunday.
His performance in that thrilling 4-4 draw convinced Gareth Southgate to hand him his first England call-up, and on Monday night he joined up with the national squad at St George's Park.
Judging by his sterling start at Chelsea, Palmer appears determined to make up for lost time.
He is still just 21, so has a long career ahead of him. But he spent three years on the fringes at City, finding first-team opportunities under Guardiola hard to come by.
Despite scoring a stunning goal in the Community Shield against Arsenal in August and getting another goal against Sevilla in the UEFA Super Cup 10 days later, Palmer feared a fourth season on the periphery at City.
In March, he considered a loan move. Five months later, he left for good.
It must have been hard for Guardiola to see Palmer score the 95th-minute penalty that stopped City winning at Stamford Bridge.
Guardiola was fond of Palmer, but opportunities were limited, with Phil Foden, Jack Grealish and, this season, summer signing Jeremy Doku ahead of him in the pecking order.
Yet, while his 41 appearances for City were not enough to convince Palmer to stay, it could have been fewer had he not heeded his father's advice.
Palmer was the smallest player in every City team from Under-8s through to the senior side. He quickly learned the importance of protecting the ball.
Anxious about his slight frame, he told his father he wanted to become stronger and faster. His father felt otherwise, joking that Guardiola — then managing Bayern Munich — does not prioritise those attributes in a player.
Two years later, Guardiola became City manager and, sure enough, he felt Palmer was one of the most technically capable players in the academy.
Jason Wilcox, who convinced City not to release Palmer five years ago and was their academy director until January, said: "I'm not surprised he's done well quickly at Chelsea. He's a quiet, languid guy, and people can misinterpret that. You could always see elite vision, technical ability and winning mentality."
Guardiola claims he told Palmer this summer that Riyad Mahrez's exit would bring opportunities, yet Palmer stated his desire to leave.
In a matter of months, he has gone from a City squad player to Chelsea's go-to man in attack. Team-mates are now looking at him to spark life into the side, and four goals and two assists in the League show he has been able to.
His next challenge is to catch Southgate's eye in training this week, and impress enough to earn his England debut in dead-rubber qualifiers against Malta on Friday or North Macedonia on Monday.
Palmer, who was part of the squad that won the European Under-21 Championship in the summer, finds himself once again behind Foden and Grealish, but now also has Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka and Jarrod Bowen to rival.
Southgate has made it clear he does not want to make too many changes to his settled squad before the Euros next summer, but Palmer's form for Chelsea has been too good to ignore.
He will hope the same principle holds true when Southgate makes the final cut in May.
