Last year, Eduardo Camavinga and Aurelien Tchouameni were names on the lips of Manchester United staff last year, albeit for differing reasons.

United were genuinely interested in Camavinga and touched base with his representatives and discovered early in the close season that his preference was to move to Spain.

On deadline day, Camavinga signed for Real Madrid.

Tchouameni, another French central midfielder, was spuriously linked with United, and the club quickly confirmed they had no interest in signing him. One staff member – not a scout – had not even heard of Tchouameni.

Less than two months later, Tchouemani was starting alongside Paul Pogba in France’s Nations League final victory over Spain. Last week, Tchouameni joined Camavinga in Madrid.

For a club with a reputation for recruiting for the here and now, Madrid’s succession planning is underrated: Thibaut Courtois is an upgrade on Keylor Navas, Karim Benzema – not Eden Hazard – is the heir to Cristiano Ronaldo’s throne, Raphael Varane was replaced by David Alaba – a converted centre-back – and Madrid won La Liga and the Champions League, while Camavinga and Tchouameni will accept the baton when father time catches up with the evergreen Luka Modric and Toni Kroos.