Imagine suggesting back in the summer that within six months Casemiro and Raphael Varane would be sold by Manchester United.
You'd have been on the receiving end of some funny looks. Both players were instrumental in Erik ten Hag's successful first season at Old Trafford, embodying the professionalism and winning mentality so desperately required in the United dressing room.
Having paid Real Madrid £112million for the pair in consecutive summers and handed them enormous multi-year salaries around the £350,000-per-week mark, they were regarded as two pillars Ten Hag could build around.