It was about an hour after the fourth game of pre-season and Mateo Kovacic had delivered a performance against Barcelona that gave fans who were previously doubtful about him joining Chelsea permanently plenty of encouragement.
Carrying the additional pressure of the £40million fee, the Croatian already looked sharp in Japan but Frank Lampard had seen something many others had not during the Maurizio Sarri era.
"I really liked Kovacic last year and I watched him a lot. When you say he had a difficult season I kind of get that, but at the same time I saw lots of things in his game that I really like," the head coach said after the 2-1 win over Barca in Saitama.
"What I found here on the tour from the first day he turned up is a hungry attitude, desire to work and incredible talent on the ball. I want to work with him and I want to help him to improve and improve.
"There's so much talent there, I really like him. He was outstanding today and I'm really pleased.
"We know we've got numbers in midfield area and I can't help but be excited by some of the elements today and I think there's more to come."
As it stands, with nine games remaining in the campaign, Kovacic is the leading candidate to be named the club's player of the year. With N'Golo Kante injured for large spells of the season, he has stepped up to lead a young team by example.
The 26-year-old has even found the net twice - including what turned out to be a rather important effort away to Valencia in the Champions League - having not scored once under Sarri.
And, as Lampard hoped back in July, there have been clear signs of development throughout. Expect his influence to grow further once football returns.
