It seemed unthinkable Manchester City would win the Borussia Dortmund lottery twice in consecutive summers, and that is how things have turned out with Jude Bellingham on his way to Real Madrid.
An initial fee of around £88.5million looks short for someone with such generational talent and, even with proposed add-ons factored in, Bellingham will almost certainly prove to be a snip for the Spanish giants. City understand the feeling better than anyone after securing Erling Haaland for just £51million 12 months ago.
For a while, there was anticipation the two might be reunited in Manchester and, following failed pursuits across the city, that would have been particularly satisfying for an already star-studded City side who are now striving to emulate neighbours Manchester United by getting their hands on a historic treble.
Pep Guardiola remains focused on the task ahead in Istanbul on Saturday night. However, while the Catalan won't divert his attention for a single moment in the build-up, he might well have afforded himself a little sigh looking at the breaking news filtering through from Germany.
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City will pretty much jet over the North Rhine-Westphalia region on their way to Istanbul for the biggest game on the European circuit. However, there will be no diversion in their flight path to pick up the most coveted midfielder on the planet; Bellingham is instead packing his bags for Madrid.
"The quality and skills, everyone knows about it, but it's not just about that," proclaimed Guardiola after Bellingham scored against his City finalists - albeit in a losing cause for Dortmund - on their Champions League trip to the Etihad Stadium in September this season.
"As I said when he was 17, it wasn't just his quality," added the City manager. "It was about he was shouting, leading, kicking, going to the referee. I thought this guy was something special in terms of his mentality and he's already one the [Dortmund] captains and when that happens at 19, it's quite impressive."
Bellingham is mightily impressive, indeed, and while City's expected pursuit for him never really got off the ground, they have ultimately missed out on their perfect target. Guardiola knows as well as anyone what Real are getting as he contemplates what to do next when the market reopens.
Win or lose on Saturday night, City and Guardiola are a pretty-much unrivalled proposition for possible recruits and while, in an ideal world, they would have wanted Bellingham to help push them into a new era, the follow-up call is, perhaps, not as difficult as first anticipated.
But should they stick or twist? As they underlined with Haaland, this season, City are prepared to wait for the right player after they missed out on Harry Kane to replace Sergio Aguero the summer before.
Although there are other quality midfielders potentially up for grabs - such as Declan Rice and Nicolo Barella - clubs will seemingly make their move to strengthen in that particular area. In turn, that will ramp up the price and, despite being side-stepped by Bellingham, City are not exactly desperate for additions to the engine room.
Of course, signing him would have given Guardiola a succession plan for Bernardo Silva, Kevin De Bruyne or Ilkay Gundogan with mounting speculation on at least two of those players. Now, keeping Bernardo and Gundogan as a priority has taken on greater significance.
With no direct answer to Bellingham right now, City already have their 'solution' in-house as they strive to emerge, and stay, at the European summit. Grabbing the elusive Champions League trophy will no doubt alert elite signings, but Guardiola would be better off waiting and responding on his own terms.
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