A few years ago, you would have been hard-pushed to pick out too many Manchester United players worthy of the 'world class' tag.
Even in the latter days of the Sir Alex Ferguson regime, Wayne Rooney flew the flag on his own for a while, although Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra were still at their peak. In the David Moyes, Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho eras, mediocrity became far too accepted at Old Trafford and for a time only David de Gea felt like a genuinely world class player; as such he won the player of the season award on four occasions in five years.
And while Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been more about restoring United as a collective rather than relying on individuals, the progress the club have made in the past year has produced some very promising elite stars for the future.
As well as De Gea, Harry Maguire, Marcus Rashford and Paul Pogba must be close to the top bracket, while even midfield trio Fred, Bruno Fernandes and Scott McTominay have shown potential in the past season.
Yet the attacking improvements made by Aaron Wan-Bissaka since joining United as a genuinely quality defender last summer show a player making rapid strides towards the elite level.
Wan Bissaka has revealed United's coaches have helped him develop that side to his game, which looked like an obvious weakness when he arrived from Crystal Palace - despite the 22-year-old having been a winger in his younger days.
"Since I came to United, the coaching staff have been great," Wan-Bissaka told the club website last month.
"They all really know their stuff and they can make a difference to your game. Even a fraction of a percent improvement is worth getting, and I’m really excited about the chance to work on my game in any area I can.
"The manager is a big part of that process too. Since day one at United, I’ve seen that Ole’s a manager who knows what he wants. You can see his intentions for the team. He wants every single player to improve and he’s given us all a steer on what we need to improve. That’s what you need, I think; a manager who will push you.
"Personally, he’s encouraged me to go forward with confidence and express myself, and prior to the recent lockdown I think my attacking game was definitely improving. As I said, there’s a lot more to come from me, from us and I can’t wait to get back to it."
There is evidence, too, to reflect the change in Wan-Bissaka's game. He took until Boxing Day to register his first assist for United and while two assists is hardly world-beating, Wan-Bissaka is most certainly contributing more at both ends.
As such Solskjaer has felt confident in using the former Palace star as a wing-back more regularly, with his pace, athleticism and ability on the ball all useful assets.
Those marginal gains that Wan-Bissaka speaks about will be more under the microscope more than ever before if the Premier League resumes over the summer. Normal training routines have been thrown out of the window since social-distancing forced players to work solo in lockdown.
But you sense Wan-Bissaka is the type to work harder than most and, with the help of digital instructions from the United coaching staff, the right-back could reach elite levels in his position.
United fans have been forced to watch Liverpool duo Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andrew Robertson hailed as full-back pioneers in recent years. Wan-Bissaka isn't far off those levels now, though.
