When Dusan Tadic informed Southampton last summer he wished to leave the club, the club's phones did not vibrate with any great anticipation. Indeed, only one call came at all and there was some surprise when Champions League Ajax decided to move for a player who is now 30.
On the evidence of Tuesday evening in the Bernabeu, however, when Tadic turned the den of the European champions into his own personal playground, it appears inspired.
At Southampton, Tadic's peers left him behind. Off they went; Morgan Schneiderlin, Virgil Van Dijk, Sadio Mane and Toby Alderweireld all departing for more ambitious clubs.
Dusan Tadic was the best player on the pitch on Tuesday night as Ajax thrashed Real Madrid
Tadic was one of those who remained, partly due to clubs being unsure of his ability to be consistent on the continental stage.
Picking up Wednesday's newspapers, such fears appear to be an illusion. The notoriously hard-to-please L'Equipe made Tadic only the ninth recipient of a 10/10 rating in its 73-year history. He scored one and made two in a dazzling display. Yet for Ajax, this performance meant so much more than one man's inspiration.
For so long, the mention of the Bernabeu was greeted by furrowed eyes and a shake of the head in Amsterdam. In 2010, Ajax lost 2-0 against Jose Mourinho's Madrid in the Spanish capital and in his De Telegraaf column the following morning, Johan Cruyff declared: 'This is not Ajax anymore.'
The Serbian produced a stunning display and grabbed the Dutch side's third goal of the night
Exasperated by the club's policy of recruiting overseas talent instead of nurturing their own, this was the starting pistol for the 'Velvet Revolution'. Cruyff stamped his personality over the club once more, encouraging legends such as Edwin van der Sar and Marc Overmars into the boardroom, with Dennis Bergkamp, Jaap Stam, Frank de Boer and Wim Jonk all given senior coaching positions.
Amid the giddiness that greeted Tuesday evening's performance, Ajax have enjoyed some splendid European nights this decade.
They defeated Barcelona in 2013 with team including six homegrown talents. In 2012, they beat Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United at Old Trafford and Roberto Mancini's Manchester City in Amsterdam.
Jose Mourinho's Real Madrid defeated Ajax at the Bernabeu 2-0 back in September 2010
A youthful team reached the 2017 Europa League final but were naive in losing 2-0 to Jose Mourinho's United. Ajax had 70 per cent of the ball that night, with 634 passes to United's 235. As Mourinho said: 'There are a lot of poets in football but they do not win many titles.'
On Tuesday, only four who started that game began in the Bernabeu to secure a
