"When Manchester City comes though, you don't say no," Iliman Ndiaye said after making his debut for his new club against Coventry City this weekend.
In the days before the transfer window closed, it had appeared as though the Senegal international was set to make a very different move, with Tottenham Hotspur appearing to close in on his signature.
Spurs had agreed terms, but Ndiaye hesitated.
Once City entered the race, in the midst of an overhaul following Pep Guardiola's departure, offering UEFA Champions League football and a lucrative five-year deal, there was to be no more hesitation, with the 26-year-old acknowledging that he had "only one direction" in mind.
At £65 million, the deal is one of the biggest of the window, although positioning it in context both puts pressure on Ndiaye and can give the impression that City pulled off a bargain.
On one hand, the club recouped £85 million for Sávio - making the deal for the far more accomplished Ndiaye look like a snip by comparison.
However, last season's deals for attacking players of similar stature -- Cunha (£62.5m), Bryan Mbeumo (£70m), Antoine Semenyo (£64m) -- give some indication of the expectations that will accompany the attacker from Everton.
For any mid-20s attacking player with some proven Premier League class, £60 million is now the default, and Ndiaye will now be expected to establish himself in the same bracket. It's been a long and winding road to this point.
Born in Rouen to a Senegalese father and a French mother, Ndiaye was on the books of various French teams -- including Marseille -- during his childhood and teenage years, before joining his father back in Senegal and refining his trade at Dakar Sacre-Coeur.
When his dad moved to England, Iliman, then 16, followed him, and represented semi-professional Boreham Wood, then in the fifth tier, reportedly having unsuccessful trials with several leading clubs, including Manchester United, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur.
In 22-23, he had a hand in 24 league goals across 46 Championship outings as the Blades were promoted to the top flight, although Ndiaye would have to make his mark in the Premier League, after returning to boyhood club Marseille.
It wasn't a successful homecoming, but far from derailing his trajectory, it ensured that he returned to England with a point to prove when he signed for Everton in 2024.
At £17 million, that deal has proved to be an absolute bargain for the Toffees, with Ndiaye, first under Sean Dyche, then under David Moyes, marrying his technical qualities with his immense work rate to bring a touch of excellence to a fairly workmanlike Blues side.
One of the Prem's finest dribblers, he got supporters off their feet at Goodison Park and then the Hill Dickinson Stadium, while also having the attitude and the stamina to lead the press for the People's Club, becoming the club's star attraction in the process.
Despite Everton's progress under Moyes, last season's injury to Jack Grealish, and the ongoing goalscoring limitations of Beto and Thierno Barry have muted the Toffees' cutting edge, with Ndiaye not having the players around him to put away his chances, nor being able to effectively step into the goalscoring gulf.
However, the qualities are impossible to ignore; his ability to turn in tight spots, shake off his defender, roll away from pressure, accelerate past defenders, change direction, and carry the ball in congested areas.
His versatility has also developed, and should make him particularly valuable at City, where he's demonstrated -- both with Everton and the national side -- that he can play on either flank, behind the central striker, or even as a false nine himself.
This combination should make him particularly valuable at City, although it will be intriguing to see whether Enzo Maresca's vision and system squeezes some of the individuality out of him, as Guardiola's rigour did for Grealish and Riyad Mahrez, to some extent, before him.
While Ndiaye started against Coventry City at the weekend, he can be one of the PL's most impactful substitutes; look at his cameos for Senegal at the World Cup, where he scored once and registered two assists in 113 minutes of action.
Typically, Maresca wide players have been required to get in behind defences, and while Ndiaye is clearly comfortable in possession, he also has the change of pace to exploit space and stretch opponents' backlines.
The balance between Ndiaye on one flank, Semenyo on the other, Erling Haaland leading the line could be tantalising, although the likes of Jérémy Doku, Phil Foden and Rayan Cherki highlight the competition for precious minutes that the West African will have to contend with.
Ndiaye's dovetailing with Haaland should be fascinating to watch, while the interplay with Josko Gvardiol, who relishes overlapping runs, can develop as another clear weapon in City's arsenal.
Against Coventry, the early signs were encouraging. He completed two successful take-ons, created a clear goalscoring opportunity, although appeared -- at times, understandably -- to struggle to match City's early intensity.
Maresca, while clearly chuffed with the signing, has made it clear he expects more from the new recruit and accused him of "moving in the wrong way" during his City debut, being drawn deeper, and towards the ball, rather than taking the risk and gambling in behind.
Hopefully, a move to City, who dominate possession in a way Everton rarely do, will liberate Ndiaye and he'll recognise how opportunities can exist when he puts distance between himself and the man in possession, rather than reducing that gap.
His transition may take some time, although it's worth recognising that Ndiaye turns 27 in March, and is not some developmental recruit with years ahead of him before he reaches his prime.
His direct return in the Prem so far has been modest, but Ndiaye's talent, and now his environment, could have put him on the pathway to be among the key candidates to replace Mohamed Salah as the Premier League's pre-eminent African player.
City isn't automatically a finishing school for attackers either; Grealish won silverware aplenty but sacrificed his spontaneity without quite becoming the world-class superstar he once threatened to become.
Savio and Omar Marmoush have already moved on, having failed to realise their promise in the North West. That pair, both now rebuilding their careers at Tottenham, ought to serve as warnings for Ndiaye.
Everywhere you looked in the Premier League's raucous internal transfer market, you found expensive attackers attempting to find their place after losing momentum... Richarlison, Mykhailo Mudryk.
Ndiaye has already evaded Spurs, he must now demonstrate that he possesses the maturity and attitude to avoid their fate entirely.