They sat on the advertising hoardings surveying their kingdom, arms draped across each other’s shoulders, beaming from ear to ear, ready to drag Manchester United towards a brighter future.
The image of Alejandro Garnacho, Rasmus Hojlund and Kobbie Mainoo celebrating a game-clinching second goal against West Ham United on Sunday is now United’s X profile photo, with the club instantly aware such a perfectly captured moment could stand the test of time.
Just as the Holy Trinity image of Denis Law, Bobby Charlton and George Best is etched into United folklore, should these figureheads of the youthful revolution on M16 fulfil their vast potential in the years to come, we could all revisit Sunday’s masterpiece to remember where the ascension took place.
The photograph has irked many – you can hear the steam coming out of Roy Keane’s ears from here – this team has achieved nothing yet, and celebrating a deflected goal against West Ham at home is another example of a unit without an elite mentality.
But the image is about more than a moment in time. These three are developing a burgeoning relationship that, while unlikely to replicate the feats of United’s legends of yesteryear, could make all the difference to restoring the fallen giant to anything like its former glories.
“They have the right attitude and when you have the attitude to improve every day, I am convinced they can achieve high levels,” United manager Erik ten Hag said on Sunday.
Two days before the 66th anniversary of the Munich Air Disaster, Garnacho’s effervescence, Hojlund’s Charlton-esque bullet goal and Mainoo’s calm-beyond-his-years display could not have been more apt.
Believing in youth matters to Manchester United more than most, with the club having had an academy graduate in every matchday squad since October 1937, a run stretching over 4,000 games.
Much faith has been placed in Garnacho, huge money splurged on Hojlund and responsibility dealt to Mainoo. On Sunday, they showed why.
Many clubs without United’s belief in youth would not have afforded Garnacho such regular starting berths, but his two goals against West Ham went some way to repaying that trust. The Argentine has scored four goals in his last three Premier League appearances at Old Trafford, having only netted once in his first 20 home games.
Hojlund endured a difficult start to life in Manchester, having been thrown in at the deep end. Now he is anything but treading water. After zero goal contributions in his first 14 Premier League starts, his superb shimmy and arrowing strike to open the scoring on Sunday took him to six in his last four games – four goals and two assists. In fact, he is now the youngest United player to score in four consecutive Premier League games.
Mainoo is the one getting everyone hot under the collar, with a standing ovation and high fives from team-mates as he was substituted on Sunday.
“I cannot tell you how great a kid he is,” one member of United’s coaching staff said after Mainoo’s incredible 97th-minute winner at Wolves on Thursday.
“He is just sat in there like nothing has happened, taking it all in his stride. He knows what he has got.”
And so do his club. Allowing the 18-year-old to blossom alongside his young mates will keep the feel-good factor turned up to the maximum.
“We enjoy spending time outside together, us young guys, we have a little group and we’re chatting to each other and it’s very cool to have other young players around the team,” Hojlund said after Thursday’s victory.
“Hopefully we can set an era for the club and be here many years together.”
Incoming overlords Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Ineos are set to make sweeping changes on and off the pitch when their 25 per cent stake in the fallen giant is ratified over the next few weeks. One element to the club’s ethos will, however, remain.
