Wayne Rooney, Joe Hart and Jermain Defoe have moved to pastures new this summer and for all three the hope must be that a good season will see them on the plane to Russia.
The trio start from different bases. Defoe was in Gareth Southgate’s final squads of the 2016/17 campaign and, from a personal point of view, enjoyed a good season at club level as the standout performer for relegated Sunderland.
Set to spearhead the AFC Bournemouth attack this time around, the equation looks relatively straightforward for one of the country’s most popular players. Play regularly and score 15+ goals and he should avoid a third World Cup heartache as a standby player.
Regular football is also on the cards for Hart after West Ham’s show of faith in the 30-year-old, signing him on a season-long loan from Manchester City and allowing him to return to the spotlight of the Premier League after a year in Serie A with Torino.
That could prove to be a double-edged sword, of course, with any mistake that he makes being amplified by the constant din that surrounds the top-flight, but having entered the summer with Southgate confirming his status as number one, Hart has a big year ahead.
The manager may have thought that one of his selection issues would quietly go away this year after taking the leap and dropping Rooney from his last few squads.
But, knocking back interest from China and elsewhere, the soap opera that has been Rooney and England could have one last dramatic chapter to write if the former captain plays regularly and does the business at Everton, starting this week as the Toffees kick off their Europa League campaign.