In the space of about 45 minutes, Bertrand Traoré went from a virtual unknown* to an in-demand hot prospect for the future. Football, ey?
* an enigma even, considering that three years ago he was supposedly signed by Chelsea, then a year and a half ago he was never ever signed by Chelsea but did appear as a trialist at some point, and now he's still a trialist but pretty much ours anyway ... confused yet?
While it's easy to overreact based on just one half of a preseason match, it's undeniable that Traoré opened many eyes with his all-action performance. Tall and skinny, his limbs seemed impossibly long and uncoordinated - yet he ruled the right wing and clicked almost instantly with Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku.
Scoring six minutes into their first Chelsea senior start would be enough for most; Traoré went on to add an assist as well and, perhaps more importantly, made something happen almost every time he touched the ball. Yes, yes, it's only Malaysia XI - but it's always nice to see Chelsea passing with purpose rather than just to pad the completion percentages.
And if all that wasn't enough, Bertrand Traoré's first touch was like a silky smooth angelic chorus (except that one time he missed the ball on the first bounce). Rather ridiculous for somebody a couple months shy of his 18th birthday.
Enjoy.