You’re 17 and are being called the future of your national team. Manchester United come calling and offer you a trial. Months later the club reveal they are impressed and want to sign you.
A future transfer is agreed for you and your teammate. While you spend the rest of the year with your current club, you intermittently pop over to Carrington to train with international heroes who will one day become your colleagues.
But right on the brink of your transfer, the deal collapses. Your friend has completed his move to United but the club say they can no longer facilitate your switch.
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This was the gut-wrenching reality for Serbia’s Adem Ljajic. After wooing United personnel during a trial in October 2008, the Reds shook hands with Partizan Belgrade the following January for his future transfer.
The teenager was to spend the remainder of 2009 in Belgrade before making the transition over to United in the new year. Meanwhile, clubmate Zoran Tosic had made the immediate move over and was handed the No.14 jersey.
His impact at United has been largely forgotten, as has Ljajic’s ghost transfer story. The latter, an attacking midfielder, had made great strides after making his senior debut for Partizan aged just 16.
His displays attracted the attention of United, who tracked the Under-21 Serbia international before offering him a trial. A £9m deal was organised soon afterwards but Sir Alex Ferguson was insistent that his immediate development was best served at Partizan for the short-term.
Nemanja Vidic took both Ljajic and Tosic out for dinner before they officially put pen to paper. "It is good for Serbia and for me to have them around. I hope they enjoy it," Vidic said.
"I did not need to convince them to come to Manchester United. This is the best team in the world. Everyone wants to be part of this squad. They are having a dream. I know how they feel. I found it very difficult when I first came here but I am here to help."
Ljajic was understandably overjoyed with his movie-star move to football’s equivalent of Hollywood. "It has all happened so fast for me," he said at the time.
"I am only 17 and have had some dreams in the past but can now have one more: the United shirt... however, I will spend the next year learning more at Partizan and I will be ready for Old Trafford next January."
The youngster - dubbed ‘the Serbian Kaka’ - continued to show his burning quality for the rest of the season with Partizan, being part of a 13-game winning run from March onwards that saw his club storm to the domestic title.
He grabbed three assists and two goals in that time and United soon had him over for training sessions ahead of his move.
Ljajic soon learned of the quick tempo Sir Alex had alerted him about about during these sessions. "The quality in England is very high because you are training with such great players, but the main difference is it's much quicker," he conceded.
"I really enjoyed it and training with such top players can only help me improve. Coming over to England allowed me to see how things worked so I know what to expect when I come here permanently. I hope that when I join in January I will be involved with the first team from the start."
Ljajic would have hoped he was ready for the big time when he departed Carrington after his final pre-transfer training session in November 2009 ahead of his scheduled move.
Little did he know that was to be his last ever visit to United. Within a few weeks his dreams came crashing down.
News reached him that United had pulled out of the deal less than a month after his latest trip. There was initial confusion as to why.
A United spokesperson soon released a statement which said: "We had an option to buy the player but, having closely monitored his development over the past 12 months, and taken into consideration the young players emerging through the ranks at the club, we have not chosen to pursue the transfer."
This seemed a rather unfair assessment. Ljajic had scored his first European goals by grabbing two in the Europa League while netting four more in the league with the playmaker being an integral part of the Partizan side that had just started the season on an 11-game unbeaten run.
However, Mike Phelan threw those comments into doubt when he admitted: "I don't think money is an issue.
"We made a tentative approach to getting a work permit and the word we got back from the Home Office was we couldn't get that through in time to get Adem signed in January.
"We have a platform that allows young players to develop and get into the first-team - we looked at Adem and he has the potential to do that.
"But sometimes you cannot fight these things. Sometimes you can get work permits, other times you can't. Adem fell into the latter category, which is why we made the decision."
The player himself later came out to rubbish suggestions that his form had been the reason for United’s withdrawal. He said: "Stories about stagnation in my football development are nonsense.
“If Manchester United were really not satisfied with how much I've progressed in this year, I would not have been with Ferguson two months ago at the end of my last cycle of mandatory training at the club before moving to England.”
He added: "The reason for the transfer not happening is that I couldn't get a business licence [work permit]. Who knows what I will do next? I have heard already that clubs are interested and that Partizan want to sell me. We'll see."
He indeed did leave Partizan, Fiorentina recruiting the talent with whom he played 88 games and recorded 16 goals and 14 assists. During his time there he did break into Serbia’s senior national team, although was exiled for two years after not singing the national anthem for personal reasons against Spain in 2012.
He returned to the fold in 2014 and featured in all three group matches for his country at the 2018 World Cup. So Ljajic still went on to enjoy elite level football but it wasn’t without hardship.
After his failed transfer to United, Goran Stevanovic, Partizan's head coach, said Ljajic had to overcome a mental blow to get back on track, and credited the player for "handling the situation well" and "overcoming the psychological shock".
Ljajic’s agent Mladen Furtula detailed how his client was “surprised” by the cancellation of the move which would have "changed our lives".
Former Aston Villa striker Savo Milosevic, who at the time was a candidate in Partizan's new chairman election, admitted: "For Ljajic, psychologically, this could have a negative impact, but I hope that this won't be the case."
Ivan Tomic, Partizan's sports director, declared that United would “regret this decision in future." Now nearly 13 years on, with the player in the twilight of his career aged 31, that is for football fans to decide.
Ljajic went on to play for Roma, Inter Milan and Torino before heading to Besiktas where he won his first pieces of silverware since his glory days at Partizan. Released by the Turkish giants in the summer, he is set to join Super Lig rivals Karagümrük next month.
He made an appearance on football's biggest stage after racking up 47 caps and nine goals for his country. But domestically, there may always be a part of him that nags at what could have been.
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