When Manchester City ended last season on a high, not many supporters would have anticipated the summer of upheaval and uncertainty that was waiting round the corner.
After a difficult start to the campaign Gareth Taylor's side found form from February onwards, winning 13 consecutive games in all competitions to win the FA Women's League Cup, reach the final of the Women's FA Cup and secure Champions League football with a third-place finish in the Women's Super League.
Little did anyone know that as a host of City's stars went off to represent their countries at Euro 2022, many of them had played their final games in sky blue.
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Since the end of last summer eight players have left the club, six of whom are among the biggest names in women's football.
Georgia Stanway was the first big name to depart, her free transfer to Bayern Munich announced two days after City lost 3-2 to Chelsea in the FA Cup final.
Fellow England teammate Lucy Bronze - Ballon d'Or Feminin runner-up in 2019 - and Scottish attacker Caroline Weir soon followed, joining Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively upon the expiration of their City contracts.
In July attentions diverted to the international scene as the Lionesses won England's first major tournament since 1966, but in the weeks that followed both Ellen White and Jill Scott announced their retirements from football.
Veteran goalkeeper Karen Bardsley also retired while reserve keeper Karima Taieb joined Marseille, but the biggest blow came on transfer deadline day. After rejecting two previous bids, City agreed to sell Keira Walsh to Barcelona for a fee worth around £400,000, a new world record transfer for a female player.
Not only have City lost the Player of the Match from the Euro 2022 final, they have lost a lifelong fan who was the key cog in a team that won eight trophies in the eight seasons she played for them.
Rochdale's Walsh is a midfielder quite unlike any other in world football - a deep-lying playmaker capable of creating attacks from nothing, but who also possesses the defensive skills and mobility to shield the defence and allow an attack-minded style of play.
To compensate for the departures City have brought in a host of talented players; that the average age of the seven new recruits is 23, compared to 29 for the departing players, shows that City have taken this summer as an opportunity to rebuild for the future.
Venezuela's Deyna Castellanos, Spain's Leila Ouahabi and Laia Aleixandri, Australian youngster Mary Fowler, Dutch defender Kerstin Casparij, back-up goalkeeper Sandy MacIver and Japanese midfielder Yui Hasegawa have all arrived.
They could - and will be expected to - go on to achieve great things at City, but fitting so many new faces into his team is going to take Taylor considerable time.
The season got off to a bad start with elimination from the Champions League qualification stage at the hands of Real Madrid, Weir coming back to haunt her former team by scoring the only goal of the one-legged knock-out tie.
City's opening WSL fixture of the season - against last season's runners-up Arsenal - was postponed following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, meaning that Taylor has a little more time to prepare his new-look team.
A second consecutive season without Champions League group stage football means City must have a good domestic campaign. With so much upheaval over the summer, that might be easier said than done.
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