Dean Henderson ended last season exhibiting as much confidence as David de Gea appeared to have lost.
"Do I think I should be playing at Manchester United now? Yes, I do," the 22-year-old declared, after helping Sheffield United secure promotion to the Premier League after a sensational season on loan at Bramall Lane.
"I think I am good enough and I would help the team a lot, in a positive way."
He proved his point again by walking away with the Man of the Match award in England's European Under-21 Championship opener against France on Tuesday night.
However, while Henderson strengthened his case despite finishing on the losing side, with France triumphing 2-1 thanks to a dramatic late comeback, two of his potential team-mates did dreadful damage to their prospects of a summer switch to Old Trafford.
Manchester United have already had multi-million pound bids rejected for both Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Moussa Dembele.
However, rather than increase their offers, they could now be considering lowering one, in the case of Wan-Bissaka, and even withdrawing the other, for Dembele.
The pair were desperately poor in Cesena, as England slumped to a devastating defeat despite taking the lead early in the second half courtesy of an Iniesta-like jinking run and finish from Manchester City's Phil Foden.
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Wan-Bissaka actually started strongly, putting in one solid tackle on fellow United target Dembele, but his distribution was atrocious and he played a number of misplaced passes.
And then, in injury time, the Crystal Palace right-back put through his own net to gift France three precious points in a tournament where only the sides who top their groups are guaranteed a place in the semi-finals.
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By that stage, Dembele must have been the most relieved man at the Dino Manuzzi stadium.
He missed a succession of gilt-edged opportunities, including a first-half penalty, and France would have been punished for his profligacy had the excellent Jonathan Ikone not levelled for Les Espoirs with a fine finish with just over 60 seconds of normal time remaining.
The two late goals were harsh on Henderson, whose heroics in between the sticks looked set to earn The Young Lions an unlikely win with just 10 men following Hamza Choudhury's straight red card for a dreadful foul on Jonathan Bamba, which resulted in the winger being stretchered off the field.
However, Henderson can take great comfort in the fact that United and their followers could not have been anything but impressed with his performance in Cesena.
Sadly, the same cannot be said for either Wan-Bissaka or Dembele.
This was a night of high drama but not a good one at all for two aspiring United starlets hoping to impress on the international stage.
