Dusan Vlahovic was still only 16 years of age when he told senior team-mates at Partizan Belgrade that he was the new Zlatan Ibrahimovic and destined to emulate his idol by joining Juventus. That childhood dream came true on the day he turned 22.
There had been interest in his services from several other clubs, most notably Arsenal, but as far as Vlahovic was concerned, "the choice was easy because Juve and I have a similar DNA: we fight and suffer when required. I fit in here."
Not anymore, though. Vlahovic is still a Juventus player. He was among the players present for the start of pre-season last week. But his time in Turin is drawing to a close - just 18 months after his joyous arrival from Florence.
Juve have not publicly stated that their €70 million (£61m/$75m) signing is up for sale but the cat is now very much out of the bag. The Bianconeri aren't just willing to cash in on Vlahovic, their most valuable asset by some margin, they're also looking to replace him with Romelu Lukaku, which has inevitably caused all sorts of controversy, given the latter has spent three of the past four seasons playing for bitter rivals Inter.
Indeed, much of the media attention has focused on the Belgian's betrayal, with the enraged Nerazzurri having ended their interest in signing Lukaku on a permanent transfer from Chelsea this summer after learning of his secret negotiations with Juve. Inter fans are also furious with a player that has repeatedly professed his love for the club.
But it's not as if recent developments have gone over well with their Juve counterparts. Indeed, some supporters gathered outside the club's medical centre on Monday chanted "We don't want Lukaku!" - which was hardly surprising. As former Juve midfielder Massimo Mauro told the Gazzetta dello Sport: "I may be old-fashioned, but I wouldn't take players like Lukaku, who said publicly that he would never wear the black-and-white shirt."