In a parallel football universe, Mason Mount is shining as a Liverpool midfielder.
Jurgen Klopp's team might be just as close to the top of the Premier League table, perhaps even closer. Yet it is hard to imagine they would be as exciting and free-flowing as they are now with Dominik Szoboszlai, the man signed instead of Mount, ducking and weaving his way upfield as Anfield's new all-action star.
It's no secret that, before this summer's arrivals of Szoboszlai and Ryan Gravenberch, Liverpool were considering a move for Mount. Their two top targets initially were Alexis Mac Allister, who was secured early in the window, and the ex-Chelsea midfielder.
Klopp would have liked to work with both as he began creating a “reloaded” version of the side that won the Champions League in 2019 and the Premier League a year later. Mount appealed because of his versatility and Liverpool thought they could get him for a reasonable price because he only had one year left on his contract. Chelsea also needed to shift players.
Yet it quickly became clear that he was more keen on Manchester United, the club he would ultimately join for £55million ($70m) on a contract worth more than £200,000 per week, potentially rising to more than £250,000 per week with bonuses.
Liverpool were not prepared to stretch that far and instead turned to Szoboszlai. After agonising over paying the release clause in the Hungarian's RB Leipzig contract, he was secured for £60.1million on wages of around £120,000 per week.
The decision to act with conviction and trigger the clause 24 hours before it was due to expire is no doubt one of the boldest but smartest moves of the last transfer window. Szoboszlai had many other suitors but they were put off by the big upfront payment and Liverpool are now reaping the rewards as he continues to be one of the feel-good stories at the club during these early months of the season.
It's impossible to predict what might have happened had Mount fancied a move to Liverpool and, in turn, persuaded a re-think over his valuation at board level. Had that been the case, there may have been scope to negotiate.
But as Szoboszlai goes from strength to strength in a midfield that is starting to look the part, and Mount, admittedly in the wake of some injury struggles, struggles to find lift-off at United, it's clear which club is more satisfied with their summer business.
Mount may yet go on to great things at United, but the former Manchester United defender Gary Neville spoke for many when he summed up the problems at Old Trafford after Sunday's 3-0 defeat to Manchester City.
Alexis Mac Allister has also boosted Liverpool's midfield (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
“Harry Maguire was going to go to Manchester City and Mason Mount was going to go to Liverpool but they come here and it is a graveyard for them,” he said.
It was a very different take to the one Neville had offered only a few months ago, when he suggested Klopp would be looking at United's midfield and wondering whether it was stronger than his own. After referencing Mount alongside Casemiro, Bruno Fernandes and Christian Eriksen, he said: “I think Jurgen Klopp would swap his midfield for United's.”
Ten games into the season, the outlook is much different.
While Szoboszlai has played every single minute for Liverpool, Mount has managed just four starts and is yet to score or set up a goal in the Premier League for their bitter rivals.
Szoboszlai's numbers aren't earth-shattering. He's scored once in the league and only registered the first of his two assists in the recent 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest, but his quality does not boil down to numbers. Instead, it is his blistering displays as a dynamic, ball-carrying, box-to-box midfielder that have endeared him to the Anfield crowd.
He's recognised as the heartbeat of this new-look team as he takes the most touches and makes the most passes. His midfield partner, Mac Allister, is fifth across the Premier League for winning possession most frequently in the final third (11 times). Crucially, the pair both pass the eye test and look capable of kicking on to another level.
Admittedly, Liverpool still have questions that need answering, such as whether the midfield is strong enough to put up resistance against the Premier League's elite teams. Fixtures against Manchester City, Arsenal, Manchester United and Newcastle United before January 1 will certainly help decide.
That has not stopped Szoboszlai from saying he wants to win every trophy in his first season at Liverpool, with assistant manager Pep Lijnders praising his ambition.
“What's not to like about Dom, hey?” said Lijnders. “With him, you see it on the pitch with what he does. You can speak but you have to do. You have to show it on the training pitch, on the windy day, on the rainy day, when it's freezing… what I see now is that Dom has all of this.”
There's no question, though, that the restructured midfield is one of the most exciting in Europe — in possession, anyway. The build-up play from Mac Allister, Szoboszlai and Trent Alexander-Arnold is a joy, and with Harvey Elliott and Curtis Jones contributing regularly, opponents are finding it increasingly difficult to stop the supply into one of the most-feared attacking lines in football. Gravenberch is also finding his feet in the middle after signing in the summer from Bayern Munich, where he struggled to make an impact.
“We knew what he is capable of,” said Lijnders. “It is the Ryan Gravenberch of Ajax that we see now. I'm not sure what happened at Bayern, but each player with confidence and without confidence is a different player.
“He is a complete No 8, with goals and the right attitude. He can keep the ball under high pressure and still find the passing option forward. He is the No 8 we searched for and the No 8 we got.”
Alexander-Arnold is integral to Liverpool's attack (Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images)
Perhaps Mount would have enjoyed a similar revival to Szoboszlai and Gravenberch had he not chosen the “graveyard” of United. We will never know.
He left Chelsea as one of the brightest jewels produced by their academy, having joined the club at the age of six. At Stamford Bridge, he was a two-time fans' player of the year and the man who provided the perfect pass for Kai Havertz to score the winner in the 2021 Champions League final.
Liverpool fancied a bit of that in their ranks but were forced to look elsewhere. For now, that suits them just fine.