The mere inclusion of the name of Ryan Christie in the Bournemouth Team sheet for his trip to Tottenham on Sunday may have been overlooked by many on another dramatic day in the English Premier League.
While the afternoon match between Manchester United and Arsenal monopolized the accumulation, and the only records in northern London focused on physical conditioning updates on the side of the Spurs of Ange Posttecoglou, Christie's return to the alignment of cherries after his crash of the FA Cup with Wolves was lost with Wolves the week before was uninhabited.
The 30 -year -old had been forced to leave only 26 minutes in his previous departure from the Premier League in Brighton and the manager Andoni Iraola later revealed that the player has been fighting with a chronic groin problem that will require surgery earlier than later.
However, Sunday's appearance indicated that Christie has no intention of bringing an early end to her remarkable season on the southern coast, and that should be a great relief for Scotland fans and, in particular, manager Steve Clarke.
In fact, at the moment when these team lines were distributed to social networks and beyond, Clarke was hoping that it stamps Christie's name in the heart of his Scotland line to face Greece in the first play-off game of the Nations League next week in Athens.
For Scotland, and particularly low Clarke, Christie has often felt like a wild card, an attacker midfielder used as a false nine in the absence of advanced options.
Ryan Christie has often been used as an impact submarine under the Manager of Scotland Steve Clarke
Christie Battle with Bruno Fernandes de Portugal during the draw of the League of Nations last year in Lisbon
One end, a subconspact. He has won 58 caps, but he has never really felt as if he had nailed a regular start or assured the complete confidence of his manager.
The two openers of the European Championship of Scotland began, against the Czech Republic in 2021 and Germany in 2024, before returning to a banking role, and playing only eight minutes in four games, for the rest of those campaigns. It always seems to be the first in row at their way when things are not going as planned.
It is a complete contrast with its current position at the club level. He is the beat of everything Bournemouth does under Iraola, the dream of a statistic with its total pressures, ball losses, possessions gained and through tried balls. And it can't be ignored.
Iraola has previously labeled with Christie as the “most intuitive player” with whom he has worked, aloges of a man widely promoted as a possible successor of Carlo Ancelotti in Real Madrid.
Devils, should that career change pass, who can say that Spanish will not return to the vitality stadium to loot some of its most reliable artists and take them to Bernabéu with him?
Bournemouth Chief Andoni Iraola has used Christie as a defensive midfielder
Of course, such speculation can wait until the silly season begins. Bournemouth has serious objectives to address first, such as ensuring European football for the first time in its history. Sunday's draw at the Spurs, after having been 2-1 ahead when Christie was removed during the last 20 minutes or so, was seen as a disappointment shows how far the expectations have reached in Dorset.
Christie's idea as an executor in the midfield is still customary to those who witnessed him who broke like a skinny teenager with Coldonian Inverness thistle in 2013/14.
A classic end of the old school, if there was ever one, the slight frame and Christie's foot fleet allocated it to torture the backs in the coming years.
Celtic quickly seized Celtic, the club where his father Charlie had trained as a reserve and tormented player as the star of the best time of Super Caley, Christie Jnr seemed to go to the same way as many other young talents who went to Parkhead and failed to unlock the door to the regular action of the first team.
Two loan spells in Aberdeen brought two finishes in the second place, but the perspective of breaking into Celtic still seemed thin.
However, those hopes were overcome when the player himself metamorphose in search of his dream.
Bournemouth midfielder, Christie, addresses Wilson Odobert during Sunday's draw with Spurs
Ryan Christie was a regular scorer in green and white after a slow beginning for his Celtic career
Christie's appearance after that preseason under Brendan Rodgers was remarkably different since his additional hours in the gym became clear to see.
His determination not to let his opportunity with Celtic literally saw him in Rodgers' plans for what would be his last season by the player.
As former goalkeeper Celta Pat Bonner said at that time: 'He is completed, much stronger than we saw when a child entered.
'I always thought it was too light to enter a Celtic team. Going out on loan, working with the first team, probably in the gym constantly, is being filled with a young man who can physically handle at that level.
“It has all the skill, but physical strength, that force has helped its speed around the field.”
However, it is a bit a jump of attacker of all the action to the midfielder. And his game was still very verged until the arrival of relatively unknown Iraola in Bournemouth.
As Christie explained in a recent interview with The timesAn eagerness to please his new boss along with a fire on under his football philosophy has led to a transformation that few would have predicted.
“We were doing a pressing exercise, I was trying to transmit the message on how we were going to press,” said Christie. “And he said:” Okay, you don't try 8. Do you think you can play there? ”
'He was a new manager, so he nodded like a dog and said yes to anything, basically. And that was all. A couple of games in that season, there were a couple of injuries in the center of the field, turned to me and I have never looked back.
'The way we play, in terms of wanting to press, be aggressive, I definitely look good. I was not completely oblivious to me; I played there when I was younger. But the way he trains us, allows you to know what is expected of you, is very clear. I know where I need to be in each phase of the game.
Christie could be paired with Napoli midfielder Billy Gilmour against Greece
'During the first weeks, you found yourself a little doubtful (yourself), or simply be a second too late (to press), which kills you at this level. You need to be everything or not at all. I love that side of the game, the tactical element.
'I really enjoy listening to the manager. Understanding is one thing; Teaching it clearly, especially in your second language, is another. It is an incredible ability to have.
It could be said that Christie should have been in a deeper role for Scotland in the euros last summer, such was the success he enjoyed in Bournemouth last season.
But the presence of Callum McGregor and the clamor by Billy Gilmour meant that Clarke was never likely to deviate from his standard deployment habits when it was Christie.
With McGregor now out of the scene, Clarke opted for Gilmour and Kenny McLean for the recent Campaign of the Nations League.
As admirably as the man in the city of Norwich he played at the end of a campaign that ended with a high note with the victory in Poland, he is simply not acting at the same rarefied level as Christie. Surely you just have to last the national coach's loyalty to McLean can go.
Christie scored the opening goal for Scotland at its end of 2020 play-off with Serbia
The central role now has to go to Christie. He has won it and something else.
Sometimes it seems that there is a mythical air about Gilmour, like those appearances in Chelsea and that act in that 0-0 draw with England in Wembley immortalized her reputation forever.
He is an incredibly talented footballer, a unique figure in the configuration of Scotland with his desire to receive the ball and establish the tempo. But he does not possess Christie's X Factor, the inherent threat that comes with a catalog of attackers.
Gilmour can well end the season with a medal of winners of the A series A along with Scott McTominay. It is a remarkable story.
However, the truth is that he is an effective squad man with Napoli. Okay, he was impressive playing every 90 minutes when Antonio Conte's men ran out of 2-1 winners about Fiorentina on Sunday, but before that he had suffered a spell of 14 games as a substitute, without using nine times and totaling 20 minutes in the five times they called him.
It could be that Clarke will choose to match Christie and Gilmour in a deeper role, with John McGinn and McTominay playing later in support of Che Adams.
The discipline and the winning capacity of the Gilmour and Christie ball would allow the backs to advance and provide the width. It sounds like a winning formula, particularly with Benak Out injured.
But the first name on the team sheet has to be from Christie. Not for the first time in his career, he has shown that his talent cannot be ignored.