So it begins; Brentford are expecting an imminent bid for Spanish wing wizard Jota, if reports are to be believed.
The 26-year-old has been linked with a host of Premier League clubs and missed the 5-1 victory over Aldershot due to question marks about his future.
At the end of the day, the fact he missed the game is not a big issue. The club and player would have gained very little from 45 minutes against the National League side.
The most important thing was the fact that Jota linked up with his Brentford team-mates at Heathrow on Saturday to head to the training camp in France.
The notable thing about this situation has been the honesty about the situation, rather than trying to play it down.
Brentford fans will only need to look back to January and the situation regarding Scott Hogan that took the whole month to come to a head.
On the eve of games, the striker was given a call telling him a bid was imminent, yet none was forthcoming to the club. At the time of writing, the Bees are understood to have received no bids for Jota.
I recall speaking to a furious Phil Giles who accused clubs and agents from destabilising Bees players on the eve of the game at Wigan.
Most Read
The difference was this was the second game that Hogan had missed beforehand.
Clearly, the words 'imminent bid' have reminded fans about that situation and it is clear from Dean Smith's remarks after the game that they want to avoid that scenario.
He said: “It won't do because of the person that Jota is. He won't allow that to happen.
“If something doesn't happen very soon he'll say I'm staying at Brentford because of his affection for the club.”
There were a number of key points to emerge from Smith's response to the question about Jota's situation.
He's what he said in full: “I had a chat with Jota yesterday. His agent has told him that there is a bid imminent from a Premier League team and it has to be a massive bid.
“He and his representatives know that. His affection for the football club is second to none.
Don’t miss
“He won't go to a Championship team because, it sounds corny, but like John Terry he doesn't want to play against Brentford.
“We understand that the Premier League is where a lot of young footballers want to play now and our aim is to get there.
“He's been no problem at all. He's happy to play for Brentford, if nothing comes that is acceptable to the football club.
“He's happy to do that but there's no way I was going to risk him today. He's worked really hard in a conditioning session.”
The first thing to take from those comments is, as usual, Brentford will not be selling a player on the cheap. The Bees have their valuation on Jota and, if that isn't met, they won't allow him to leave. If it is, then the Spaniard will depart.
Jota is happy at Brentford and had been planning to move his family to London this summer. If there was a major issue he wouldn't be travelling to the training camp.
It was not worth risking him suffering a serious injury in the first pre-season friendly when there is a chance the Bees could rake in millions once again.
Talk of Derby signing Jota is incredibly wide of the mark as the Spaniard does not want to play against Brentford.
Smith certainly came across as a calm about the situation and gave the impression Brentford remain in control of Jota's future.