Adnan Januzaj was not the first youngster to burst onto the Premier League scene to a premature chorus of hype and bluster, and he will certainly not be the last.
Each and every season sees at least one hastily elevated teenager burdened with enormously high expectation based on little more than a promising debut.
Should they extend on this promise, these kids are typically linked to big money moves in the next transfer window or backed to win an international cap, their progression to superstardom apparently assured.
It is a failing of ours to do this when in reality they require a great deal more development to discover if they’re even Premier League standard.
This rash reverence is absolutely in evidence when we revisit Januzaj’s formative years as a professional and indeed his is a story as ordinary and as old as time.
On scoring twice on his full debut for a top-flight side, all hell broke loose and people got overly excited. But in due course, it became clear that the winger did not deserve to have greatness foisted onto his slender shoulders.
Instead he was merely good. Decent. Better than some, worse than others.
Yet if we have seen this narrative play out before many times over, what differentiated Januzaj from the rest was a crucial detail, one that has subsequently seen him unfairly become shorthand for promise unfulfilled.
Because those two goals that he scored – against Sunderland on October 5th, 2013 – were for Manchester United.
Everything is bigger when it comes to Manchester United, everything is heightened and exaggerated and it has to be said that the club is often blameless in this regard, the media taking it upon themselves to dramatize the Red Devils to the point where comparisons with a circus is not unreasonable.
So it is that a defeat constitutes a crisis. So it is that a brilliant opening bow sees a raw talent proclaimed a genius.
In this instance however, the club do have to take some responsibility. They do have to take some of the blame for the reputational damage later suffered by a young player in their charge.
Take the manger at the time David Moyes. Under pressure following two costly defeats, Moyes turned in desperation to Januzaj and on seeing him convert twice-over, and then put in a small number of sprightly showings, promptly compared the 18-year-old to Wayne Rooney, one of the best Premier League strikers of that generation or any other.
Was it fair to do that? No. Was it right? Again, no.
Former Reds star Quinton Fortune meanwhile hopelessly jumped the gun in claiming that Januzaj reminded him of one of the best Premier League midfielders of all time, Cristiano Ronaldo, and the poor kid wasn’t even spared such nonsense from his own team-mates either.
Impressed by the scant time he’d shared with the Belgian on the pitch, Robin Van Persie felt it wise to gush the following high praise: "Over the years I've seen so many young players, and I can honestly say that of all the young players I've seen he is right up there in the top one or two. He’s a great player."
At that juncture, Januzaj had played a little over 100 minutes of professional football. He was still making his way in the world, never mind making his way in the game.
In due course, as stated, gravity took hold, with the winger moving to Sunderland on loan and then later to Spain, and what annoys when looking back on his endeavours is that here is a player who reached a World Cup semi-final with Belgium and made 132 appearances for Real Sociedad.
Last season, he turned out for Istanbul Basaksehir - a club that regualrly features in Turkish football predictions.
It is a fine career and one he should justifiably be proud of.
In England however, through no fault of his own, he will always be viewed as a flop. A footballer feted to the heavens based on not very much at all.
*Credit for all of the photos in this article belongs to AP Photo*
