With Manchester United contesting the Premier League season curtain raiser with champions Leicester City, all eyes were firmly on Zlatan Ibrahimovic as he started his first competitive (sort of) game at his new club.
And although the big Swede delivered with a match-winning goal, most of the discussion among fans of the club was about the least noteworthy of the summer signings.
Centre-back Eric Bailly arrived from Villarreal out of nowhere, with very little paper talk, mainly due to the fact that not many were familiar with his exploits in Spain, but now that pre-season is over and Bailly has been seen in a United shirt on a number of occasions, there is a definite buzz around the Ivorian.
And it's justified for the most part. Here are some of the seasons that United fans are so excited at the potential of Eric Bailly.
Jose Mourinho's track record with young centre-backs.
At 22, he's younger than Jesse Lingard, but Eric Bailly gained good experience from his time in Spain. Starting with Espanyol he played against the best, and quickest, attackers in the world. Then the challenge of moving club was made to look easy as he improved with Villarreal, who looked far more vulnerable against Liverpool in the leg that he was suspended for.
Mourinho brought Rafael Varane to Real Madrid, and Kurt Zouma to Chelsea. Both of those players were expected to be long-term development signings, but both impressed right from the off and looked ready to step up. Eric Bailly's forn has suggested that Jose is set to continue that trend.
The Guy is lightning quick.
Leicester City won the league last season because teams couldn't deal with their pace, so what did they do this season? They added a shit-tonne more pace. Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez, Jeffrey Schlupp, and Damarai Gray as well as the FIFA create-a-character quick Ahmed Musa will cause teams nightmares this year, but Eric Bailly matched them stride for stride comfortably.
He the won man of the match award in the Community Shield against a Jamie Vardy who played well. That's a good start.
A fine debut from @EricBailly24 and you've voted him #MUFC Man of the Match - congrats, Eric! ? pic.twitter.com/UoEaOHc3at
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) 7 August 2016
He's got some tasty skills on the ball.
The club's fans will have likely seen a few clips in YouTube highlight videos of Bailly trying some pretty raunchy stuff for a defender in La Liga last season, but on his Manchester United debut he showed that he was here to play with a bit of flare.
Nice.
His qualities complement Chris Smalling well.
United fans have been screaming out for a decent defender to be signed so as to take the pressure off of Chris Smalling. While Daley Blind has done admirably, and Marcos Rojo's best qualities are that he's a bit of a buzzer and like to hop in with the away fans at Anfield, Smalling has had his hands full, but Bailly's fondness to attack the ball should allow Smalling to be the more relaxed ball-player.
Bailly doesn't mess about, he goes after it with the intentions of a certain Serbian, and the fans love that. With Smalling's calmness beside him it makes for a really promising prospect.
He's a little bit mental.
Let's be honest, this is the real reason.
Eric Bailly is just a bit of a nutter. He's an athletic beast and appears to be able to jump like something out of 'Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon', and clearly isn't afraid to mess a few people about.
His two fouls on Musa and Vardy were rash, but he's been bodying people all preseason and let's not forget he did this to Luis Suarez:
Man Utd fans love a defender who will put his body on the line, and if Bailly can channel his desire to fuck shit up into consistent centre-back play, then they're onto a winner.
