Just 24 hours after a French former Arsenal player, a Belgian and an Argentine helped to unveil Man-chester City's pounds 200?million Football Academy, Jose Mourinho sat an English teenager "made in Chelsea" next to him ahead of tonight's (Wednesday's) Champions League match against Sporting Lisbon at Stamford Bridge.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek has been at Chelsea since the age of eight and will play some part of their final Group G game, probably from the substitutes' bench.
The fact that Loftus-Cheek, 18, will be involved against Sporting is not entirely surprising, given that Chelsea have qualified for the knockout stages as group winners, but Mourinho's decision to put the young midfielder straight in front of the television cameras was an unusual move.
Mourinho does everything for a reason and it seemed that while City had shown that they now have the best facilities in the land to bring through young players, the Chelsea manager was displaying that his club finally believe they have the home-grown talent and the right environment to give youth a chance.
Chelsea have not seen one of their own become a regular first-team player since John Terry, the captain, despite opening their pounds 30?million academy in 2005 with running costs of up to pounds 8?million a year.
City's last home-grown product was Micah Richards, who may have smiled wryly to see Patrick Vieira, Vincent Kompany and Pablo Zabaleta open the club's talent factory from Italy, where the defender is on loan with Fiorentina.
"If you don't bring kids through the academy, the best thing is to close the academy," Mourinho said. "If the kids are not good enough or the work not good enough and you don't bring kids up, then close the door and use the money to buy players. You need to prove the academy works well and is worth it. It's only possible if the first-team manager stays for a long time, which in this club, in the last 10 years, was not possible. Now I'm trying to format Ruben and other Rubens in relation to my ideas, to his position.
"The relation between the first team and the academy is changing based on this stability that, at this moment, we are having. The people in the academy feel they are working for something. Which is why tomorrow, when a boy who arrived at Cobham aged eight plays, is not Ruben's day but 'academy day'."
Loftus-Cheek captained Chelsea to FA Youth Cup glory last season and last month scored in England Under-19s' 3-0 win against Italy. He joins Lewis Baker, Isaiah Brown and Dominic Solanke as young English players in whom Mourinho is taking a special interest.
Having confirmed that Loftus-Cheek would make his first-team debut at some point against Sporting, Mourinho said: "To be here since he was eight and to have the chance to play for Chelsea, his first game, is every kid's dream. An English player, 18, completely made in Chelsea - if he does it and if he succeeds, it's good."
Loftus-Cheek said: "It would be amazing to make my debut. If the opportunity comes, great. If it doesn't, I'll keep working hard, doing my best every day, and, hopefully, the chance will come."
Mourinho is giving his squad mid-season mini breaks in an attempt to stave off the injury problems that have hit Chelsea's Premier League title rivals.
Terry, Eden Hazard and Willian will all miss tonight's match. Terry, Hazard and Willian have not trained since the defeat at Newcastle United, and will only return to work this morning in preparation for Saturday's Premier League clash against Hull City.
Diego Costa and Nemanja Matic were granted rests after sitting out the Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle games, respectively, through suspension. Cesc Fabregas will be the next to be given a mini-holiday because he is suspended for the Hull match after picking up five bookings.