Acclimatising to the cheap fifa coins Premier League represented a challenge for the manager himself, with Koeman arriving without any prior experience of the English game. His playing career had been split between Spain and the Netherlands, while in the dugout he had taken charge of Ajax, PSV and Feyenoord – becoming the first man to play for and coach his country’s ‘big three’ – as well as enjoying stints with Vitesse, AZ, Valencia and Benfica. So, 11 months on, how has English football met with his expectations?

“I’d say it’s been very close to what I expected, in a good way,” he said. “Everything that is said about the football culture here – the atmosphere in the stadiums, the respect for the players – is true. The games are all real physical battles, but high quality too. It’s never easy. The top team can lose to the one at the bottom and most matches are very, very tight. Everyone knows that the Dutch league is at a lower level, but even in Spain that level  of competition just isn’t there. I don’t think Ronaldo, for example – though he is clearly a great player - would be scoring 40, 50 goals a season if he was still playing in England.”