It wasn't quite Robbie Keane being mobbed at Celtic Park, but Charly Musonda's loan move to Celtic was greeted with startling hype.
The message from former boss Brendan Rodgers was certainly emphatic - the club had pulled off a real coup in bringing the Belgian to Scotland for a supposed 18 months.
He even claimed, now infamously, that Real Madrid had tried to sign him the previous year.
But after little over four months and a mere handful of appearances Musonda, who arrived as the marquee signing to lead Celtic to the double Treble, left as a mere footnote to that historic success.
One dazzling piece of skill against Zenit St Petersburg aside, the move had been an abject failure amid unconfirmed rumours over the playmaker's attitude.
Musonda himself, it seems, bears no ill-will to Celtic or Rodgers but admits his time in Glasgow was a dark period in a career that has still to really get off the ground.
He told the Independent : “It was very, very difficult.
“It’s something you have to get over and try to not let it change you, but it was a very sad moment. It’s not like in six months I became a bad player.
"But when you’re a player who expresses yourself and has that bit of arrogance, criticism goes hand in hand.
"People say things like ‘he’s unprofessional’ but that’s football, people are always going to talk. It’s up to me to make things happen."
Musonda still clings to the hope of one final chance to prove himself at Chelsea.
Yet after leaving Parkhead, things only got worse for the 22-year-old as another loan, this time to Vitesse Arnhem, began with ruptured knee ligaments in his first pre-season appearance.
He describes the misery of that campaign as incomparable even to his nightmare at Celtic, but Musonda has battled back and is now in a second spell with the Dutch club that has filled him with optimism.
On being injured, he added: "Even if you lose a normal match 5-0, you can start building towards the next game straight away.
“But when you’re injured, it’s just you. You train separately, you feel alone. There’s no companionship.
"That’s the hardest part. You can’t even compare it to Celtic.
“Now I’m at Vitesse (again), I don’t feel stuck or left behind because I know once I’m playing again, soon everybody will be watching.
“I just want one more chance to play for Chelsea. Before my time had always been about progression. There’d never been any setbacks.
"I’ve changed a lot but that’s normal. I’m a better person now as well as a better player. If I can come back, it will be a testament to my talent but it will also show the type of person I have become.”
