Tottenham joined an exclusive club this summer when they splashed out £100million on one player and Sandro Tonali showed them at the weekend what that sort of money buys.
Just nine clubs have spent a nine-figure sum in pounds sterling on a single player in the history of the game. Spurs became only the fifth Premier League side to do so when they agreed the overall package with Newcastle for £92.5million plus another £7.5million in add-ons for the Italy international.
Tottenham have always paid their bigger fees for potential, albeit nothing like that sort of sum. Tonali is a ready-made Premier League star. He played 110 games for Newcastle, 130 for AC Milan, another 89 for Brescia and has made 32 appearances for his country.
The 26-year-old will become Spurs' metronome. He will dictate their rhythm, their tempo and the way that Roberto De Zerbi's team will play. The Tottenham boss has wanted Tonali to play for him for years and finally he has taken charge of a club with the means and willingness to make it happen.
The 54,345 fans inside the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium watching Saturday's 3-0 pre-season win against Hoffenheim got to see what all the fuss was about.
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Tonali is not a headline maker. He won't score many goals or crunch into tackles but he is the conductor of the orchestra.
Former Newcastle manager Eddie Howe once admitted he "fell in love" with Tonali while watching him play for Milan and pushed the club to pursue him for "a long, long time".
"He is an outstanding talent, he can do a little bit of everything," he said after getting his man.
Now the Italian will orchestrate the Tottenham midfield and he was involved in everything good they did on Saturday.
He has an in-built radar of what's around him so when he receives the ball he can quickly move into pockets of space. It's not with a surge of pace, more an understanding of the gaps and what the right touch will do with his body's momentum.
He set Mikey Moore away in the first half for a chance that neither Richarlison nor Mathys Tel could slide home.
Then on 35 minutes, Tonali took a great touch that set him free into the Hoffenheim half. He picked out fellow summer arrival Andy Robertson's run down the left with a pinpoint pass and the Scot found Richarlison in the box to open the scoring.
It's no coincidence that Tonali played the entire 90 minutes. De Zerbi wants him as fit and sharp as possible to hit the ground running for the season ahead.
"Tonali can carve out a leadership role here. I convinced him, I told the truth. I always say what I think and I believe he's always been a leader in big teams," the Tottenham boss said this week.
"He was already a leader when I watched Brescia, a team I support. Already at 18-years-old he was playing like a veteran."
The Tottenham fans streamed away from the stadium on Saturday evening raving in the queues for their trains home about their £100million Italian and it marks a new era at the club.
It was a day in which Tottenham waved goodbye with little fanfare to two World Cup stars and began to look to the future.
In any other era in N17, selling the captain and one of their England internationals might have brought wailing from the fans and heartfelt tributes from the club to the departed duo.
Instead Cristian Romero and Djed Spence announced their own departures on social media to Atletico Madrid and Inter respectively, and later on Spurs gave them two social media posts each. One a straight announcement and the second containing two basic sentences.
Some might suggest that it was entirely in keeping with both players that Romero announced his departure more than 12 hours before his move actually happened. Spence did his two-and-a-half hours ahead of his official announcement and exactly two minutes before Tottenham kicked off against Hoffenheim.
Both players had special moments for Spurs, not least that night in Bilbao, but there is no real outcry about their departure. It feels like the right time for both to leave, Romero having wanted to head to La Liga for years and Spence unlikely to get the minutes he needs this season as he sits firmly behind Pedro Porro in the pecking order.
Spurs were always better for having Romero in their team than not, which says plenty about how good he could be. On his day, few are better. You want the 28-year-old beside you rather than against you, in training as well as he left his mark on your legs. He was far from perfect, by his own admission, but he wanted more from the club.
The Argentine did not play enough, missing almost 100 Spurs games across five years for a variety of reasons. Behind the scenes he went from a quiet character to someone who probably had too much sway and leeway to do what he liked. He produced though on many of the biggest nights of all for the club.
If anything he left a year too late, last season an unnecessary epilogue even if his goals played their part in keeping Spurs up. His rollercoaster ways mean he won't be celebrated like others over the years, but he was one of the best centre-backs to wear the shirt even if he played fewer games than most.
There's an irony that he departs a Tottenham Hotspur that's finally becoming the one he always called for and held the board accountable about. The low transfer fee for him indicates the absence of a stampede to sign him and that Spurs just wanted to move on. Time will show what comes next for both.
The main gripe with both the transfers is those fees. Both players signed new contracts last summer and starred at the World Cup but Spurs will get just £34.2million for Romero and £30million for Spence, including add-ons for each.
Romero has a 15% sell-on clause for future profit if Atletico later part company with him, while Spence has a 10% sell-on but on the full amount if Inter move him on rather than just profit.
Combined though that money will not even get Savinho through the door in the week ahead.
Tottenham and their fans are looking forward and De Zerbi is looking at his forwards. He wants new additions with Savinho, Cody Gakpo and Omar Marmoush among those he has a hankering for.
Both Tel and Moore looked to remind him what they can do on the flanks on Saturday. The former has been bright throughout pre-season after De Zerbi gave the Frenchman a confidence-boosting pep talk before his summer break, making it clear that he would be counting on the 21-year-old as part of his new-look squad.
Moore has been more subdued this summer as he awaits a likely loan move to Bundesliga side Koln but he exploded to life at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium at the weekend.
Both of his goals were created by Tel. For the first on 59 minutes, the France U21 international left two Hoffenheim defenders for dead before hitting a powerful low ball that Moore ghosted into the six-yard box to flick home.
The second, in the 79th minute, brought a clever switch-foot pass from Tel to find the 19-year-old and Moore took a touch before deftly sending the ball into the bottom left corner of the net.
Moore admits he's taken his time to get into his groove again this pre-season after a big season on loan at Rangers and his first brace as a senior player was the reward.
"I think I'm building my way into it. I showed a lot more today and I thought I did quite well. So, hopefully I can build on that and bring that into the season," the youngster said.
Moore can see the transformation in Tottenham's squad this summer after a season away, with the influx of six new faces and De Zerbi's full style being drilled into them all.
"There's a clear idea of what the manager wants to do and everyone's really clear on that. The players that we've brought in are top Premier League players and they've brought in experience and the characters that have come in are top," he explained.
"To see them in training, they're top footballers as well. They're going to help throughout the season and we're in a good place."
Moore admitted that life under De Zerbi is demanding but exactly what he needs.
"He's very, very intense. He's clear in all of his ideas and he makes sure that we all know that," said the teenager. "And he won't give you a second to be sloppy on or off the ball. That's 100 per cent what you need.
"I think I'm learning a lot from that, where I know that I can't switch off. I can't switch off on my touch. I think there might have been one in the first half today and he's going to call me out on it.
"He's telling me that's not good enough and I'm like 'yeah, fair enough'. You're not going to get away with it. So, he's been unbelievable."
Moore admitted that playing on the right is "not my most comfortable" position and that's why a loan move still looks likely. De Zerbi wants those new wing arrivals, who can play on either flank, and Mohammed Kudus is also on the way back.
Spurs have time with Moore. He is still so young but it's imperative that in the future he is given an opportunity to try to impress. There's just too much talent there to waste.
The club may well already be looking at Will Lankshear scoring three goals in his first two games at Middlesbrough as a warning for taking the first big offer that comes for their best youth products.
They have no plans to sell Moore but there must be a plan for him after a summer in which Spurs have sold Lankshear, Luka Vuskovic, Alfie Devine, Alejo Veliz and, on Saturday, Ashley Phillips.
Phillips departed for Middlesbrough in a £20million package, with an initial £7million plus £13million in add-ons as well as a 20 per cent sell-on clause and matching rights.
Those five youngsters could eventually bring £106million into the club, which justifies their purchases from a financial point of view but at some point Tottenham have to use their own talent from within rather than let it flourish elsewhere.
There were other positives from Saturday's win, the first of the summer in which Spurs have scored more than one or two goals.
Lucas Bergvall was bright in his 87 minute stint with touches, twists and turns aplenty as De Zerbi continues to try to show the Swede that he wants him to stick around.
The 20-year-old is understood to simply want to develop as a number eight and is not pleading for game time, just the opportunity to grow in the role he wants in both training and matches. De Zerbi has given him that in sessions at Hotspur Way and Bergvall has featured heavily in pre-season.
So has Archie Gray, who again captained the side. The England U21 international showed that he can do a solid job at right-back despite desperately wanting to be a midfielder like Bergvall.
His versatility continues to be both his greatest strength and weakness and whether Spurs can bring in a replacement for Spence will define what comes next for Gray.
In the other full-back slot, Robertson curled in plenty of fine first-time crosses and will bring similar threat from the left as Porro does from the right, which should give Spurs more avenues towards goal.
Marcos Senesi also got more minutes into his legs and with Micky van de Ven yet to play a single minute of pre-season, the Argentine could start the season alongside Jan Paul van Hecke.
Both men use the ball well and are communicators in the backline, which will help settle the new-look defence quickly in front of a goalkeeper in Antonin Kinsky who looks galvanised by De Zerbi's faith in him. The 23-year-old Czech made a string of good saves and commanded his box like an older goalkeeper.
The man Kinsky has usurped, Guglielmo Vicario, sat up in the stands as he awaits a club to come in for him, preferably one back home in Italy.
There were plenty of other Spurs stars up there with the Italian at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in Kudus, Mateus Fernandes, James Maddison, Dominic Solanke, Micky van de Ven, Pape Matar Sarr, Rodrigo Bentancur, Kevin Danso, Ben Davies, Destiny Udogie and Wilson Odobert.
Xavi Simons was also present but as he was doing some club work on the day - a half-time interview and surprising fans in the south podium - he was sat in his usual box behind the press area.
football.london also spotted Dejan Kulusevski and Martin Dubravka walking along corridors inside the stadium with their families at one point.
Sunday will bring another match against Hoffenheim at Hotspur Way and many of the above are likely to play, with Kudus and Maddison potentially in line for their first minutes from the bench.
All eyes will be on whether Van de Ven is ready yet to join them or if De Zerbi will have to deliver an update on the Dutchman at his press conference next week.
The club will continue to take it cautiously with Kulusevski after 15 months out of action, but it's hopefully a positive sign that he continues to be in and around the squad after his lost season.
The Tottenham players will all get Monday off before the final preparations begin for the season opener at Brentford.
"We have not got a clear first XI," De Zerbi admitted on Saturday. "We are a work in progress. From Tuesday we start to prepare, considering the physical condition, considering the players ready to play."
The Spurs boss has not got a clear first XI because he wants new attacking arrivals and, when fit, Kudus and Maddison will boost the team's creativity tenfold. Tottenham will make progress on an attacking signing this week with the cash from Saturday's sales, simply because they have to in order to keep their Italian happy at the helm and maintain their momentum this summer.
It's a new dawn and a new Tottenham Hotspur but there's still plenty to be done before it's even close to being the new day Roberto De Zerbi wants it to be.