But it is a pleasing part of any tournament that youth sometimes arrives unexpectedly to express talents where more seasoned campaigners freeze with the responsibility placed upon them.
"He is developing into a real team player who is still able to express his talent," says the Arsenal manager.
The club had been an excellent choice for Hatem Ben Arfa, another tricky customer who had trouble finding the right environment to express his talent, to relaunch himself.
"I saw it as a remarkable chance to join in with a real diverse group of people and see an old friend of mine better able to express his talent".
With Ronaldo then at Internazionale, Rivaldo at Barcelona and Ronaldinho at Paris Saint-Germain, their experiences at club level armed them with qualities to help them best express their talent in international competition.
And with a change of management and regime and a full-scale MOT, Tidal Bay is now able to express his talent without negative expectations and has gone from Hyde to Jekyll.
Man-management – or lack of – is one of the reasons Smith has previously cited for this shortfall and now, from his home in Perth where he works for a company run by his brother Chris, the 52-year-old is pleased to learn that England cricketers are being told to express their talent by the current coaching set-up under Trevor Bayliss and Paul Farbrace.
So when the next little girl that wants to be, you know, a musician and give up her anonymity and her voice to express her talent and bring something special to the world, and it's time for us to roll out and say, "Did this person have the biggest thing of the year?" — that thing is more fair because I was there.
"He has dropped down the pecking order because they have made some big-name signings down at Swindon and we can give him the platform to express that talent".
