Crystal Palace is a club that has a fine track record for developing wide players to go onto bigger and better things, and Senegal's Ismaïla Sarr, who now has 20 goals this season, is the latest proof of that.
Against Everton this weekend, Sarr hit that landmark, scoring his 20th of the campaign to become the first player since Glenn Murray 2013 to reach that tally during a season.
The last time a Palace player did this while the club were in the Premier League was former England international Andy Johnson, 21 years ago.
Palace were 1-0 behind after James Tarkowski's opener when Sarr hit No. 20, rifling home with his left at the second attempt after his first (right-footed) shot had been blocked tentatively by Michael Keane.
It was the 28-year-old's eighth in the Premier League -- equalling his return from last season, in 13 fewer matches -- while he's also netted seven in eight en route to the UEFA Conference League final.
These numbers have been despite the attacker missing over a month of action due to the Africa Cup of Nations.
But let's rewind a bit, and look at how he got here, and what this means for Senegal's FIFA World Cup campaign later this month.
Speed doesn't equal success
When Sarr first arrived at Crystal Palace in 2024, there existed around him a curious uncertainty. Everyone knew his speed. Scouts had been aware of it for years, coaches admired it, defenders feared it, but speed is easy to recognise, its impact immediate.
But speed alone doesn't set footballers apart, doesn't automatically destine them for great things.
Particularly upon arriving in the Premier League, many foreign players have found that acceleration alone couldn't lead to success, with the likes of Ahmed Musa, Ryan Babel and Mateja Kezman each struggling to make an impact as the space they'd enjoyed elsewhere vanished.
For a while, it wasn't entirely clear where Sarr was going either, as he never truly lifted himself into the category of elite widemen to have taken the division by storm.
English supporters admire labour and result, but distrust incompletion, and for several seasons after his arrival in England from Stade Rennais, he was in danger of failing to realise his potential.
At Watford, there were afternoons where he appeared capable of destroying entire (and elite) defences by himself; remember Sarr's two-goal-and-assist showing against Liverpool in February 2020, where the Senegal attacker devastated one of Europe's best sides single-handedly and ended their 44-game unbeaten run?
There aren't too many players who could do that.
There was also the December 2019 Man of the Match display against Manchester United, against the same opponent two years later, bringing the curtain down on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's tenure, and in terrorising Aston Villa at the start of the 21-22 season.
These were volcanic showings, but they often had one thing in common - space opened up for the attacker against stronger opponents, and his pace and directness reaped a rich harvest.
At Palace, belatedly, he's found a measure of consistency to underpin these standout moments, as the likes of Wilfried Zaha, Michael Olise and Eberechi Eze had each done before him in South London.
He hasn't taken the most direct route to the successes of this season. Once linked with a move to Liverpool, he experienced relegation with Watford in 2020 and 2022, then secured a move to Olympique de Marseille, where his form faded and his output was modest, before returning to England with Palace.
His time in France didn't raise concerns that Sarr had lost his gifts, but was a reminder that his talent required the right environment -- and manager -- to unlock them week in, week out.
Zaha's early-career move to Manchester United ultimately represented a false start, but he returned to the club and carried them for years -- even to an FA Cup final, and became one of the Prem's best players outside the top six.
Olise arrived as promise and departed as one of the world's most watchable attackers, now a Bundesliga champion no less.
Eze appears on course to become a Premier League champion with Arsenal, with his hat-trick display against Tottenham Hotspur in November one of the defining moments of the Gunners' campaign.
South London has become a finishing school for modern wide attackers, with brilliance celebrated by Eagles fans in the short-term, knowing that departure lingers not too far behind.
Zaha was destiny from the beginning, Olise possessed elegancy and effervescence, too refined to remain, although Sarr arrived with uncertainty and points to prove with a less unequivocal trajectory behind him.
Fast, dangerous, but incomplete. Did he ever truly look like a player who could score 20 in a single season?
Making the most of May
Even head coach Glasner, who deserves immense credit for adding regularity to Sarr's game, expressed his own surprise at the player's goal return this season.
"I'm a bit surprised that he's now 20, but I'm pretty sure it will be more than that this season because he's just doing so well," Glasner told journalists, as per The Guardian, after Sunday's 2-2 draw.
"We didn't make him quicker, we didn't make him jump higher and this is what drives every single player," he added. "Not just me, it was my staff together, to get the best Ismaila Sarr that he can be.
"From day number one, we could see his attitude and we could see his talent."
Since returning from the Nations Cup, where he won his second continental crown with Senegal, Sarr has been in rich form, scoring 12 in his last 21 matches as the season reaches its conclusion.
For both player and club -- FA Cup winners last year -- there's still much to play for. As well as having their own continental final to look forward to -- utterly unchartered territory for an institution that only had two Intertoto Cup appearances to refer to as their European pedigree before this season -- Palace also find themselves as the Prem's king-makers again.
In their final three league matches, they must face second-placed Manchester City on Wednesday, before they host champions-elect Arsenal on the final day, either side of a trip to Brentford this weekend.
No clubs from outside the traditional aristocracy relish these major occasions quite as much as Palace, while the space afforded by both Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta's defences should afford ample opportunity for Sarr to thrive and add to his tally. It's the kind of landscape where he becomes especially dangerous.
The team from South London, and their West African talisman, can still disturb the balance at the summit this season, and you wouldn't bet against the Senegal wideman having his say on the Prem title race before Palace's own season comes to a conclusion at the Leipzig Arena.
That final against Rayo Vallecano on May 27 affords Sarr the opportunity to get his hands on a second piece of significant silverware in a season - after the AFCON success - as well as another trophy in just over a year after last year's FA Cup final triumph over City.
As has been a theme for the Eagles under Glasner, they play without fear because they arrive in such fixtures, at such stages, without obligation.
While Sarr made limited impact during the Nations Cup, he has been the key protagonist in Palace's run to the Conference final, including with goals in both legs of the semifinal victory over Shakhtar Donetsk and the quarterfinal against Fiorentina.
Particularly important was his first-minute opener against Shakhtar in Krakow, with Sarr, driving in through the right channel before finishing calmly after 21 seconds, settling the Eagles' nerves and reminding his teammates that the minnows belong in this rarefied continental air.
Under Glasner, he's has been a key figure in a Palace team that are clearly undergoing an evolution, more ambitious, more clearly defined, what had previously been deemed impossible now being realised before their eyes.
Sarr's World Cup importance
He's also experienced a significant, if less profound, change with the Senegal national team, first under Aliou Cisse and then with Pape Thiaw.
When the winger made his Teranga Lions debut in 2016, the Lions had played in one AFCON final in their history - and lost it - and played at just one World Cup, reaching the quarterfinals in 2002.
Over the last decade, with Sarr in the team, they've reached three AFCON finals - winning two, including their first title in 2019 - and qualified for three World Cups, including reaching the knockouts again in 2022.
In this expanded 2026 tournament, despite an ominous group including France and Norway, Senegal have a glorious opportunity to at least emulate the pioneers of 2002.
Given their tournament performance at the Nations Cup - as well as the burning sense of injustice at being stripped of their title - not to mention a balanced squad, this is a team who will fear no one at the tournament, and will relish the opportunity to represent the continent as their 'real' champions.
Sarr has been one of the symbols of this generation, but in an unfinished way; he's always been dangerous, occasionally feared, but never the genuine star player in a team containing Sadio Mané, then Iliman Ndiaye, and recently, wonderkid Ibrahim Mbaye.
At 28, in his prime, and entering this tournament on the back of such a strong season, he'll never have a better opportunity of leaving his mark on the grandest stage of all.
Whether or not he can do this, expect the transfer talk to follow during the offseason, where Sarr - albeit belatedly - could become the next star to leave Palace for brighter lights beyond.