Shortly after Zinchenko had faced Hector Bellerin and Serge Gnabry when Shakhtar Donetsk played Arsenal in the Uefa Youth League in February 2014, his mother decided the family should leave for Russia to escape the military conflict that broke out in the Donbas region of Ukraine.

The move forced the then-17-year-old to terminate his contract with Donetsk after six years at the club, leaving his fledgling career shrouded in uncertainty.

The 24-year-old left-back having initially been signed as a midfielder – has won the Premier League three times, an FA Cup, four League Cups and was named Ukrainian footballer of the year in 2019.

At 17 he was trained by Yuri Gavrilov, a top Soviet midfielder at Spartak Moscow in the 1980s. Even the richest Russian clubs refused to consider him: “Directors at Zenit and Spartak Moscow told his trainer that they have a lot of youngsters like him already. “He was just a thin guy, who behaved rather shyly,” said Sergey Telkov, who played with Zinchenko at Russian non-league side Meteor. Ufa press officer Sergey Tyrtyshnyi told BBC Sport: “I had never heard of him, so I Googled him, and the first result said: ‘The golden feet of Ukraine’. That was definitely a good sign.

He had no salary for months but didn’t give up on chasing his dreams of playing professional football. Then the unexpected option of Russian Premier League club Ufa emerged. Zinchenko agreed to play for a very low salary, and the club bought a small flat where he lived with his mother In Russia.

Zinchenko’s first coach at Ufa, Igor Kolyvanov, rarely played him, but the Ukrainian became a regular starter under Yevgeny Perevertaylo, who joined in October 2015. I immediately knew that he must play because of his brilliant qualities. The only thing that needed to be changed was his tendency for non-effective dribbles and passes,” said Perevertaylo.

Zinchenko was a playmaker but his defensive qualities were good too, and thus I used him at left-back for a while, when we needed attack-minded full-backs.”

The young hopeful was soon making enough of an impression to be considered for senior international duty.

Tyrtyshnyi added: “When Zinchenko started playing regularly, the Ukrainian FA – who didn’t really rate him previously – suddenly feared he could switch to Russia.

The Ukrainians called him for the game against Spain in October 2015 and used him for three minutes, just to make the switch impossible. Zinchenko is a smart guy. He knew why they were doing it. He could have refused but went there willingly, because he wanted to represent his homeland.”

Zinchenko played 33 games for Ufa before signing for Manchester City in 2016 in a £1.8m deal, aged 19. He was immediately sent out on loan to PSV Eindhoven for a season.

He returned on loan from PSV and slowly established himself as an important member of Pep Guardiola’s squad – despite being linked with moves away on numerous occasions – and now he is the pride of Ukraine and its most recognisable footballer.

As Valery Rudakov, a Shakhtar legend who coached Zinchenko at under-17 level, put it: “I am glad that he managed to fulfil the potential that we saw at our academy.” And this summer Zinchenko, who could face Northern Ireland in a friendly on Thursday, will lead his country at Euro 2020. Not bad for a player whose career looked like it was over before it had really begun.