Arsene Wenger and Marcel Desailly spent much of their summer together, on touchlines and television studios across France covering Euro 2016.
There, the Arsenal manager and the former Chelsea captain would get a first preview of what then-Italy boss Antonio Conte would try to achieve in the Premier League months later — building a side up from their lowest point to becoming a collectively great team.
Wenger's reaction? "Wow",' recalls Desailly. 'He was surprised about how he was managing this team in a short time like this.
'This is where you could see his (Conte's) ability to coach and to make a player understand his philosophies very quickly because Italy impressed everyone from the beginning.