Pep Guardiola must have spent some time this summer making contingency plans for losing Leroy Sane to Bayern Munich.
The German giants have chased Sane for months, extremely publicly, as a replacement for Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery.
Manchester City have always maintained they do not want to sell Sane, but Guardiola knows more than most how quickly things can change in football, and he is not the type to be unprepared if his left winger was to depart.
Now, though, Guardiola is faced with a situation where Sane is likely to stay, but won't be available for selection for some time.
City have confirmed Sane requires surgery on a damaged ACL in his right knee after picking up the injury against Liverpool in the Community Shield. It will not only keep Sane out of action for months, but could also spell the end of Bayern's immediate interest.
That City might have a better chance of keeping Sane is a positive, but a lengthy injury is not the way they would have wanted to achieve this position.
Nevertheless, this is the situation City find themselves in, and Guardiola must put into place those contingency plans. Luckily, he has a squad full of world class talent at his disposal.
Guardiola used Sane heavily in pre-season on the wing, and the most likely scenario is that Raheem Sterling will revert to a wide role and take Sane's spot. Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus will return to battle upfront, and Riyad Mahrez will get more opportunities on the opposite side to Sterling. Seamless.
But Guardiola loves to rotate his squad, and he needs more options out wide. Just like last season when a key player was faced with a long-term injury, Bernardo Silva stepped up. He will have to do that again.
Bernardo excelled in a central role to replace Kevin de Bruyne a year ago, but De Bruyne is back and firing this season so Bernardo may have to reinvent himself again.
The Portuguese can rotate with Sterling and Mahrez on the wings, with Jesus also capable of playing from a wide position. Just like that, City have a dangerous, fluid attack to cope with the loss of Sane.
But with Bernardo operating more from the wide areas, who will push De Bruyne and David Silva in the two central positions?
Ilkay Gundogan will play his part, fitting in at the base or centre of Guardiola's midfield when required. Fernandinho will compete with Rodri, who could also play in the midfield two. But none of the trio will necessarily offer the forward running that Bernardo does to break down stubborn defences.
That is where Phil Foden comes in.
Guardiola said the youngster will get more chances to impress this year, and without Sane's injury, the 'Stockport Iniesta' would surely have seen more playing time anyway. Now there is no excuse. He will be the one to play the role Bernardo did last season - albeit on a more managed scale.
Sane's lay-off is undoubtedly a blow. But City have a habit of building plenty of positives from such negatives. Bernardo and Foden can be those positives this season.
But Guardiola will have already thought of that.
