Aston Villa's turnaround under Unai Emery has been nothing short of remarkable. In his first term as manager, the Spaniard took the Villans from 16th in the Premier League to seventh, confirming their spot in the UEFA Europa Conference League.
With the former Arsenal boss implementing a raised level of targets on his Villa squad, their next aim is to break into the Champions League and given they are one point off fourth place Liverpool after eight matches, an assault on Europe's elite competition is a real possibility.
While Emery is leading the Midlands side through a golden period in the club's history, supporters will remember the dark days they've been put through, particularly during Paul Lambert's reign.
Spending three years in charge between 2012 and 2015, Lambert's time at the club is remembered for all the wrong reasons as the Scotsman had them teetering on the verge of relegation after recruiting horribly.
Although his spell was blighted by struggles in the transfer market, he was responsible for one of the club's greatest signings in recent history as Christian Benteke made a rapid rise to stardom in claret and blue, plundering goal after goal.
It's hard to think of a more popular figure at B6 in recent history than Benteke, however, Lambert could have upgraded on the 45-cap international by signing a fellow Belgian in 2012. Romelu Lukaku, anyone?
Did Aston Villa almost sign Romelu Lukaku?
Since being sacked by Villa, Lambert has revealed several world stars that he tried to sign during his time at the club in the book Big Deal! 100 Managers, Their Greatest Signing and The One Who Got Away [via Birmingham Live] and Lukaku was at the summit of that list.
Reminiscing on his efforts to land the youngster during his first spell at Chelsea, Lambert said: “Prior to signing Benteke, I spoke to (Romelu) Lukaku, and we also looked at signing (Kevin) De Bruyne on loan – when they were both kids at Chelsea."
Despite missing out on Lukaku, that blow was softened by the £7m arrival of Benteke from Genk, a deal which indeed proved to be a resounding success.
The towering talisman became a hero at Villa Park, hauling an impressive 61 goal contributions in 101 appearances before moving to Liverpool in 2015 for £32.5m.
Since departing the Midlands, Benteke's career has failed to reach the heights that were promised in his formative years, currently plying his trade in the US with D.C. United while Lukaku has, at points, become one of the deadliest strikers in Europe.
How many goals has Romelu Lukaku scored in his career?
When Villa missed out on Lukaku, Everton ended up signing him for £28m in 2014 and he quickly showcased his appetite for goals with 87 in 166 appearances for the Toffees.
The 6 foot 3 "monster" – as dubbed by sports writer Thierry Nyan – earned a big money move on the back of his goal-scoring exploits on Merseyside, departing to Manchester United for a fee potentially rising to £90m in 2017.
If Villa could have got their hands on the Belgian, they could have been the ones pocketing a hefty fee for the now 30-year-old instead and potentially avoided their plight down the Premier League table under Paul Lambert.
Possessing unrelenting goal-scoring powers, Lukaku has notched up an eye-watering 336 goal contributions in 510 appearances at club level while his exploits for the national side are significantly better than Benteke's with 77 goals in 110 appearances for Belgium, compared to his compatriots 18 in 45.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and while Villa now look towards brighter horizons under Emery, their tumble into the Championship could have been avoided if Lambert was backed by the financial muscle to bring a player of Lukaku's ilk to the club. After all, goals are always primarily the key when avoiding the drop.