Pep Guardiola was full of promise as the skinny youngster I remember when I was manager of Barcelona in the mid-Eighties.
It is a promise he has fulfilled way beyond reasonable expectations, not only as a player of the highest order but as a manager acknowledged as the most successful of his era and probably everyone else’s.
We have just witnessed the most significant of his successes here in England, achieved with Catalan style — free-flowing, entertaining, winning football.
He has demolished Manchester City’s rivals for the Premier League title with time to spare and in doing so has raised the bar with thrilling performances match after match.