Almost 12 months ago, Kalvin Phillips stood in a Houston hotel ballroom for two hours of interviews. "With Leeds it was one camera, ten minutes interview and I'd be off," he said.
After signing for Manchester City, Phillips immediately noticed the scale of things at his new club - starting with the media interest - and also made a telling comment about the scale of the task ahead to simply play games for his new club.
"At Leeds I was always the guy that needed to play every game, City isn't the case. There are some amazing players," Phillips continued. "I need to get my head around that and push myself to be in that bracket where I need to be playing and want to be playing.
"Obviously the standard of football as well is unbelievable so I know I'll have to be at the very top of my game to get any minutes and get a start. I know there will be times I'm pulling my hair out because it's so difficult but that's what I wanted, that's my decision. That's why I came here and what I wanted to do."
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A year on, as Phillips prepares to return to pre-season training for his second campaign in sky blue, little has changed from that first day of media interviews in Texas last summer.
Phillips only played 21 times for City in his first season, which was hampered by injuries in the Autumn, and then by falling out of favour with Pep Guardiola after the World Cup. Guardiola raised eyebrows by publicly saying Phillips returned from Qatar overweight, and the midfielder would have to wait until the title was won for his only two Premier League starts.
He made just four starts in total, and nearly two-thirds (62 per cent) of his league minutes came in the final three dead-rubber games of the season. He was an unused substitute more times (24) than he actually played, and with Rodri putting in world-class, Champions League-winning performances in the centre, Phillips couldn't get the minutes he needed to adapt to Guardiola's system. Now, he has vowed to kick-on in 2023/24.
With a new documentary coming out charting his move from Leeds and first year at City, Phillips has said he disagreed with Guardiola's 'overweight' assessment, and made a rather similar remark about his status at the club in an interview with BBC Five Live this week.
"At Leeds it was very different for me because I was playing every single game and I knew that no matter what I would probably be in the starting line-up," he said. "Now it has kind of changed, where I am not expecting to be in the team or expecting to start.
"But if I don't start I am going to push to try and get myself involved a lot more. Obviously I would love to play a lot more, be involved in the team a lot more and winning games, but I know how difficult it is and I hope this season is a lot better for me in that way."
That sentiment is almost a copy-and-paste job from his first interview with British media last July in Houston, underlining his struggles to break into the team over the course of the season.
Phillips is clearly popular in the dressing room, and was front and central of the treble parade in Manchester last month, but he will know there is still work to do to make an impact at the Etihad. There are the same rivals for midfield minutes ahead of him next year - with Mateo Kovacic taking Ilkay Gundogan's place in the squad - and Phillips' task has been made more difficult by the emergence of John Stones and Phil Foden as realistic midfield options.
"The opportunity I was given was one I couldn't turn down," he said in Houston. "Even if Pep's only here for one more year then it will hopefully be a good year."
On balance, it has been far from a good year, despite becoming a European Champion. He will hope that his year under Guardiola will give him the foundations to kick on this season, with the manager extending his contract mid-way through the campaign.
Jack Grealish did it, Joao Cancelo did it, and plenty of others have improved after a transitional first year. Phillips will have to follow their lead if he doesn't want to be talking about not expecting to start games this time next summer.
