Andy Warhol used to say that in the future, everyone will be famous for 15 minutes. Kalidou Koulibaly experienced that at the Emirates. Then his celebrity status was revoked.
For the first quarter of an hour he could do no wrong. Standing tall, he nipped the ball out from Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's feet without any effort at all.
A pair of blocks from Aaron Ramsey and Ainsley Maitland-Niles made it seem as though he had tampered with the ball pre-match, installing a magnet in it and his boots.
Kalidou Koulibaly, often linked to Premier League clubs, played for Napoli at Arsenal
It seemed as though he was living up to the pre-match billing. Eyes were inevitably on him because he has dominated English gossip columns for years like the strikers he has faced in Italy.
Chelsea constantly pursued him when Antonio Conte was in charge. He is now, supposedly, the man to fix Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's defence. Manchester United are thought to be plotting a £75million swoop for him in the summer. He is meant to be the defender to take them back to the top level.
Even if United do not move for him, there is a suggestion in Spain he could be Real Madrid's replacement for Raphael Varane.
Koulibaly scored an own goal as he deflected Lucas Torreira's shot past goalkeeper Alex Meret
The 27-year-old is very much the in-vogue centre-back in Europe. As John Hartson said pre-match: 'If he is allowed to leave Napoli in the summer, some of the biggest clubs in Europe will want to sign him.
'He's been there since 2014. You can see the pace, the timing of his tackles and he backs himself. He doesn't mind getting in a footrace with strikers because he knows he's quick.'
Just before the clock hit 15 minutes, the thought came – this could be United's Virgil van Dijk. The way he calmly dealt with everything that came his way suggested they could finally consign Phil Jones to the history books. It was not just that. Like Van
