If football teaches us anything it's that you're foolish to look too far ahead with optimism and confidence flowing through your veins.
But after Manchester United made a winning start to life under Ralf Rangnick with a comfortable and impressive 1-0 win over Crystal Palace last month, you could have been forgiven for doing just that.
The win over Palace, although the scoreline suggested it was a slender victory, fuelled confidence and belief back into the veins of many United supporters, with the performance having shown a sense of heart, desire, hunger and belief.
A little over four weeks later, all of those emotions have been sucked back out again, with Monday teatime's 1-0 defeat to Wolves at Old Trafford another stark reminder of just how much work Rangnick has got to do in his efforts to turn United back into a competitive force at the top end of the Premier League table.
Although United spent big during the summer transfer window, spending north of £120million on the likes of Raphael Varane, Jadon Sancho and Cristiano Ronaldo, United remain a million miles away from challenging the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City at the summit.
If United are to change that, their first port of call has to be to bring in a new defensive-minded midfielder, an area of the team Rangnick, as reported by the Manchester Evening News , has been given the green light to strengthen in this month's transfer window. RB Leipzig ace Amadou Haidara has been earmarked as a target, whilst long-term target Declan Rice remains high up on the club's wish list. However, West Ham United's £100million valuation of Rice could dent United's hopes of signing him, especially if the Hammers finish in the UEFA Champions League places at the Reds' expense this season.
Whilst Rice is the name on the lips of every United supporter, there are other options that the club could turn to in their efforts to bolster an area of the squad that is in desperate need of fresh blood, with the way Wolves duo Ruben Neves and Joao Moutinho ran the show at Old Trafford on Monday highlighting just how vital it is that Rangnick is allowed to strengthen that area of his team sooner rather than later.
And the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations could present United with the ideal opportunity to conduct a scouting mission, with Leicester City midfield enforcer Wilfred Ndidi poised to star for Nigeria.
The former Genk man, who has racked up 13 Premier League appearances for Leicester so far this term, has cemented himself as one of the best defensive-minded ball-winning midfielders in the last couple of seasons and is exactly the type of player that United are lacking. He is also bursting at the seams with energy and can get around the midfield areas not too dissimilarly to Chelsea star N'Golo Kante.
Although he may not be considered in the same bracket as Rice by a general Premier League or football follower, the truth is that Ndidi is one of the very best in the business and has gone from strength-to-strength since first arriving at the King Power Stadium in 2017..
His statistics make impressive reading. Last season, for example, the midfield enforcer averaged 3.7 tackles, 2.1 interceptions and 0.4 blocks per game in the Premier League, as cited by WhoScored.com. In comparison, his tackling ratio ranked higher than both Kante's and Yves Bissouma of Brighton, who are both considered, like Ndidi, among the best defensive-midfielders in the Premier League.
This season, Ndidi, who will be hoping to help Nigeria scoop their fourth Africa Cup of Nations title over the coming weeks, has averaged 3.6 tackles, 2.4 interceptions and 0.3 blocks per game, highlighting that he has consistency within himself to fulfil his duties to a high standard.
United's defeat to Wolves, more than ever before, highlighted their need to add some of Ndidi's ilk to the engine room. They need a player capable of putting a tackle in, retaining order and showing a level of energy and turn of pace.
The upcoming Africa Cup of Nations will provide United with the opportunity to analyse Ndidi closely in a different way to what they usually would when he plays for Leicester, in a sense that no two teams are the same and it will give them the chance to see how he performs without the likes of Youri Tielemans alongside him.
Ndidi, as proven by Leicester's track record when it comes to selling their star assets, would not be a cheap option for United, but he would almost certainly remain a cheaper option than Rice.
At 25-years-old, not only is Ndidi at a good age, in terms of having his twilight years ahead of him, but he is also at an age where he has built up more than enough experience to prove that he is capable of giving United what they need.
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