One year ago, Cole Palmer was preparing for his first season at Chelsea, having just completed a £40 million ($51m) move from Manchester City. He'd previously shown flashes of promise during his time at the Etihad Stadium without cementing himself as a starter, and few expected him to pull up many trees at Stamford Bridge.
Flash-forward to the present and Palmer has scored in a European Championship final, won the Premier League Young Player of the Season award and firmly established himself as one of the best attacking midfielders on the planet. His story just goes to show that even in a world when every action on and off the field is hyper-analysed, football still has the ability to throw up surprise packages. But who's next?
The very nature of 'breakout stars' means the next big thing can be difficult to predict. However, there is a crop of Premier League players who are threatening to take inspiration from Palmer by coming out of nowhere to rise to the highest echelons of the game this season...