Nick Pope did not play a single minute of England's four UEFA Nations League games last summer yet it proved one of the most significant camps of the goalkeeper's career. It was during that fortnight away that the 31-year-old got the inside track on life at Newcastle United.
Although Pope was already keen on a move to St James' Park, following Burnley's relegation to the Championship, Kieran Trippier 'really sold' the switch to him after the Newcastle standard bearer spoke 'incredibly highly of everything that's going on'. From the club's ambitions and the intensity of training under Eddie Howe to life in the North East and playing in front of those fans every week, Pope got the answers he needed. It was far from a coincidence that the subsequent transfer was completed just 10 days after England's final game of the window against Hungary.
Twelve months on, James Maddison, like Pope, is pondering his future after the England international's side, Leicester City, also went down. Maddison, like Pope, is well-aware of Eddie Howe's interest having previously joked how it was 'three on one with the Newcastle boys' during the World Cup following a 'bit of speculation' last summer.
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While Pope is currently sidelined, Newcastle will still have twice as many representatives in the England squad than rival suitors Spurs for the Three Lions' upcoming fixtures against Malta and North Macedonia. They just so happen to be two leading members of Newcastle's leadership group - Trippier and Callum Wilson.
Maddison is close to fellow Coventry native Wilson, who has long predicted that his international colleague will 'go to a bigger club', and the Newcastle number nine left a relegated outfit, Bournemouth, to join the Magpies, himself, in 2020. After so many years without a presence in the England camp, Newcastle now have their own influential salesmen in Gareth Southgate's squad as Howe knows only too well.
"Well, I certainly won't be briefing them on what to say!" the Newcastle head coach previously quipped to reporters. "The beauty of that is when players speak to players, hopefully, it's all authentic and the players will just give their opinion of life at Newcastle. If that does happen then hopefully it's good things."
Spurs may be able to call upon Harry Kane to do their bidding, but the England captain's own future is far from certain following the Londoners' worst season in 14 years. Spurs' record goal scorer even recently admitted his side had 'lost a bit of what the values are at this club'. Yes, Spurs still boast an incredible training ground and state of the art stadium to boot, but it has been an especially chaotic few months for the club, who only appointed a new manager, Ange Postecoglou, last week.
Stable Newcastle, in contrast, are on the up, after qualifying for the Champions League, and supporters may wonder why Maddison would even need any further encouragement. However, Howe's side are so far ahead of schedule on the field that the Magpies are still catching up off it. When it comes to wages, Howe has already warned that the 'big clubs will all dwarf us', which will make it 'hard to attract the very, very best players'.
Yet it is telling that Newcastle have not given up on Maddison - just as they didn't on other long-term targets like Sven Botman and Anthony Gordon. The Leicester star has admirers right the way through the club - in the boardroom, coaches' room and dressing room - and it is easy to see why.
Maddison was directly involved in 19 goals in just 30 Premier League games for relegated Leicester last season. If you took that contribution away, Leicester would have gone down long before the final day.
Maddison has matured, on and off the pitch, and while much has been made about how the playmaker would fit into a Newcastle side built on running power, does that not miss the point entirely? Maddison would give Newcastle something different, an X-factor, an ability to unlock deep-lying defences, which will be even more important next season.
Ironically, the way Maddison's Leicester lined up is a glimpse of what is to come at St James' Park next season after the Foxes set out to frustrate and disrupt, and got men behind the ball during a goalless draw last month. Although this Leicester side were fighting for their lives, even title-chasing Arsenal were not afraid to run down the clock from the get-go just a couple of weeks earlier.
That is why a game-changer like Maddison is in such demand this summer. There are not too many like him knocking around this summer.
