Three years later, not much has changed. The now slightly lankier 19-year-old retains the same boyish looks and despite joining the world’s most famous youth academy, those 29 minutes are the only first team football Pasquali’s ever played.

“When Seb was young we talked about Ajax because of the link between Barcelona and Cruyff’, Tony laughed.

“I think it was hard to step back from the first team in Melbourne to a youth team in Amsterdam. Seb played almost no games during the 2016/17 season because of paperwork, despite the fact Ajax did everything they could.

“They helped us to find our home. Seb came in November — in the middle of the season — and that was not that easy.

You have to learn almost everything and the boys did not accept him fully yet, especially because they have — deep inside — their competitive attitude.

“You are their competition.”

Talented footballers who suffer transitioning from a big fish in a little pond should look at the travails encountered by young Australian footballers. Pasquali morphed from a little fish in a little pond to a practically inexistent herring in a giant Dutch canal.

Speaking no Dutch and with next-to-no professional experience, Pasquali was thrust into the cut-throat world of European football.

17 players were cut or loaned from the Godenzoden (Sons of the Gods) last season; Pasquali was one of 18 U/19s who were brought up through Jong Ajax's ranks. Next season, another team of hopeful young boys will be brought through, and another squad of shattered young men will be discarded.

There are moments of optimism; for every 17 of Pasquali’s peers that unceremoniously depart, there’s a shining-blonde defender like Matthias de Ligt, who was almost rejected by Ajax's youth team, but eventually joined the same season as the Australian. Three years later and the 19-year-old is one of the highest-regarded talents in the world, boasting 61 appearances for Ajax and 13 for the Dutch national side.

But he is the exception. In this environment, excelling is barely an option. Most footballers are focusing on survival.

“The first team at the moment are doing really well with a maximum age of something ridiculous, below 23; they’re very successful in the Champions League so far,” Pasquali told The Daily Football Show in October last year.

“We train a lot and that doesn’t automatically mean that you’re going to produce amazing players but that helps, the amount of hours you’re able to train with other very talented players.

“The coaches are able to get the very best out of you, all the while using the very best facilities. That combined gives players all the tools they need to be able to reach their maximum potential.”