When Sean Longstaff said that Joelinton was the best player in training and first picked for practice games because it guaranteed victory, it felt like an act of kindness towards an under-fire team-mate.
Whatever trees the Brazilian was pulling up behind closed doors, he was tripping over them in public. You even doubted the veracity of Longstaff's claims. Turns out he was telling the truth.
Less than two years on and Joelinton is the Newcastle player, perhaps more than any other, who guarantees victory, and not just during an in-house kickabout.
The word 'awesome' is often misused in footballing parlance.