Manchester United and Borussia Dortmund may be playing each other on the other side of the world on Friday, but there will be the whiff of a homecoming in Shanghai.
With Mario Gotze back at Dortmund after an ill-fated spell with Bayern Munich, and United ready to close a deal for prodigal son Paul Pogba, it is the transfer market which will share the limelight with this International Champions Cup meeting in the Far East.
United boss Jose Mourinho was coy on the prospect of Pogba's arrival when questioned by the press on Thursday, but did say he was confident his board, led by Ed Woodward, would deliver the goods.
Three of Mourinho's targets - fitting his "profile" - have already been attracted to Old Trafford, but the biggest one of all is yet to come.
“I don't confirm and I don't deny," Mourinho, who has back-up targets up his sleeve, said.
"The only thing I can say is that my board, my directors, did a fantastic job to do 75 per cent of the job I asked them to do.
"I asked them for four profiles of players, I gave them a few options and they did for me 75 per cent of the job and we just have 25 per cent to do before August 31.
"So we are in a great positon to do what I consider will be a great market for us. So we are calm.
"I'm really confident Mr Woodward and the owners can get the profile of the player I think the squad needs."
Pogba, who classed himself as a Mancunian and still has family in the north west of England, should therefore soon become the world's most expensive player.
That billing should not faze the man who has worn the words Pogboom and Pogbance on his boots, and regularly shows off increasingly flashy haircuts, but it has provoked criticism of United.
They are, after all, about to pay £100 million for a player they let slip through their clutches back in 2012.
But amid the talk of United's deep pockets and the inflated transfer market, it has been ignored that, after three years of mainly poor decision making, their luck appears to have turned.
Had Pogba not left United four years ago, his progress is likely to have stagnated under the tutelage of David Moyes and Louis van Gaal. He may well have left United by now already, and almost certainly would not have blossomed into the player he has become thanks to his Italian education.
United made a mistake, but it has, belatedly, paid off. Knocked off their perch following Ferguson's retirement, they will relish the headlines and status.
It may be hard to recall now, but such a fuss was once made about Gotze. Making headlines ahead of a pre-season friendly is one thing, but the playmaker stole the show ahead of a Champions League semi-final with Real Madrid in 2013.
Having been identified as a key part of Pep Guardiola's project at Bayern, the German giants showed no mercy as they swooped to sign the Dortmund darling just days before their momentous clash with Madrid.
But while Pogba has gone from strength to strength having flown the nest, Gotze struggled. Guardiola erred in highlighting the Germany international, and his progress has crashed to a halt across three frustrating years.
Bayern's decision to force him out of the door even after Gotze himself insisted publicly that he would stay and fight for his place shows how far his stock had fallen.
Dortmund's players and coach Thomas Tuchel, though, will be delighted to have him back.
Gotze joined Dortmund as an eight-year-old and is ready to pull on his boyhood jersey once again, although Friday's game at Shanghai Stadium will come too soon.
There will be no Pogba, either, as United continue to put the finishing touches on his move.
But while fans back in Europe focus on the comings and goings of the transfer window, there will be nearly 57,000 people in Asia's most populous city delighted at the prospect of seeing their other heroes in the flesh.
United's recent struggles seem not to have diminished interest in this most important of markets, while the number of Dortmund shirts in the press room at Tuchel's media briefing on Thursday suggests there is plenty of excitement at the German club's presence here, too.
Gotze and Pogba may hog the headlines back in Europe, but China is ready for their new team-mates to do battle.
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- Goal