The early stages of Real Madrid's pre-season handed the coaching staff a chance to run the rule over their squad, new arrivals included.
Denzel Dumfries stood out among them. His move from Inter Milan for an initial 20 million euros pointed to a clear brief: replace Trent Alexander-Arnold at right-back.
The Dutchman looked the ideal option to bolster the squad, an alternative to ease the pressure on the Englishman through a season packed with challenges, according to the newspaper "Marca"
José Mourinho had earmarked Trent as one of his key defenders after a turbulent first season at the Bernabeu.
His limited minutes across the first three friendlies told a different story. Fierce competition with Dumfries has left him on shaky ground. With so many players away at the World Cup, Mourinho had to rebuild the team, and right-back quickly became one of his thorniest problems with two big names fighting for the shirt.
The experiments back it up. Against Fiorentina, Arnold started at full-back and Dumfries came on ahead of him on the wing. The Englishman saw out the match while the Dutchman was hauled off in the 75th minute.
Against Ferencváros, Mourinho flipped it: Dumfries started and Trent came on in the second half.
Deportivo La Coruña brought the same plan in the third match, with the Dutchman starting this time on the wing and Trent returning after the break at full-back. On this occasion it was the former Inter man who played the full 90 minutes.
Dumfries' quality gives him a slight edge heading into the season, and he fits the mould of the player Mourinho loves to turn into a fighter, even if he didn't show his best during pre-season.
Trent, meanwhile, looked sharp, comfortable and desperate to prove himself at Real Madrid after a first season that gave him no end of trouble.
The same battle is playing out in attack, at centre-forward, where minutes across the last two matches were split almost evenly between Endrick and Carlos Espí.
Mourinho has sown doubt on purpose, chopping and changing names and line-ups without settling on anyone, forcing the lot of them to compete right up to the final moment of pre-season.
Right-back and back-up striker remain up in the air. That uncertainty is the Portuguese's best weapon to squeeze the most out of a team still very much a work in progress.