The release of the Premier League fixtures last week threw up a tasty encounter between Manchester United and Chelsea at Old Trafford on August 12.
It is only the second time in the last 15 years that United have been paired with another member of the current top six on the opening weekend of the season.
The other occasion came in 2015, when Kyle Walker's own-goal handed United an unconvincing 1-0 win at home against Tottenham.
On that occasion United were in the middle of a rebuild. Bastian Schweinsteiger had arrived from Bayern Munich, Morgan Schneiderlin from Southampton, Memphis Depay from PSV Eindhoven and Matteo Darmian from Torino. Anthony Martial followed a few weeks later.
Only Darmian and Martial remain of those five players and by the end of the window two will likely have become one, with United's Italian full-back hell-bent on returning to his homeland.
Four years on United are no further on than they were under Van Gaal and they are in the midst of another rebuild, this time with a slightly different strategy.
The club has moved away from its policy of signing high-profile names and is instead prioritising the recruitment of promising, young, homegrown players.
That is why Daniel James was brought in from Swansea and that is also why Aaron Wan-Bissaka is likely to arrive from Crystal Palace, providing United can agree a fee with the London club having seen their initial £40million bid for the full-back turned down earlier this month.
Harry Maguire has been on United's radar since last year, while Declan Rice, Sean Longstaff and James Maddison have all been linked with moves to Old Trafford.
Realistically, United should be prioritising additions at right-back, centre-back and, following Ander Herrera's exit, in central midfield.
An encouraging summer would see United sign Wan-Bissaka, Maguire, Rice and Youri Tielemans in addition to James, although such an outlay would come at a cost given the inflated prices the Reds tend to have to pay for each player they are interested in.
United could make some of that money back by selling Romelu Lukaku, who is interested in joining Inter Milan. Ed Woodward is believed to want to recoup around £80million for the Belgian forward.
United may have to pay Alexis Sanchez off to leave the club but that is something they should do given how woeful he has been since moving to Old Trafford from Arsenal.
Marcos Rojo could leave, as could Juan Mata as he enters the final two weeks of his contract. Axel Tuanzebe looks set to be in and around the first-team squad next season after his impressive loan spell at Aston Villa, but it feels likely that goalkeeper Dean Henderson will spend a second season on loan at Sheffield United, especially if David de Gea ends up staying at United.
The Reds intend to keep De Gea as he enters the final year of his contract amid interest from Paris Saint-Germain, and they cannot afford to let Paul Pogba leave regardless of how poorly he finished the season.
Potential 18-man United squad vs Chelsea
Starting XI: De Gea; Wan-Bissaka, Maguire, Lindelof, Shaw; Rice, Tielemans, Pogba; Martial, Rashford, James
Bench: Romero; Bailly, Dalot, McTominay, Fred, Lingard, Greenwood
