Right-back Thomas Meunier's sublime lobbed effort set Paris Saint-Germain on their way to a 5-0 thrashing of Lorient in the French champions' final match of 2016.
It was a positive end to the year for the Belgium international and he looks likely to pick up where he left off in 2017 with positional rival Serge Aurier now out of the picture with Ivory Coast for at least the next few weeks at the Africa Nations Cup (AFCON) in Gabon.
Meunier's spectacular strike against Les Merlus completed a highly satisfactory first half of the 2016-17 season for one of the few successes from last summer's disastrous transfer window dealings.
Aside from Giovani Lo Celso, who is yet to make a competitive appearance for Unai Emery's men after spending the first half of the campaign on loan at formative club Rosario Central, Meunier is by far and away the most impressive signing of the Emery era thus far.
Julian Draxler, a January recruit from Wolfsburg, could ultimately usurp the 25-year-old from Sainte-Ode but for now at least, the former Club Brugge man's crown is safe.
Emery himself sang Meunier's praises ahead of Saturday's Coupe de France round-of-64 clash with Bastia and marvelled at how Les Parisiens' No. 12 has quickly "won the respect of the other players, the staff and the fans."
"Thomas works a lot and has progressed a lot since his arrival," the Spaniard added. "He needs to keep that up. His confidence and experience have both grown. We are delighted with his progress. Serge is away for AFCON, so Thomas has a good opportunity to keep taking strides."
Although Aurier remains Emery's first choice right-back, Meunier has proven himself a more than adequate alternative and has pushed the Ivorian more in the past few months than Gregory van der Wiel did in a few years.
Meunier, who played youth football at Standard Liege and then started professionally with Virton, is solid defensively -- perhaps more so than Aurier -- and equally as talented going forward. He started out as a right-winger before gradually moving back through midfield and into defence and it shows in his style.
One of Europe's most intriguing attacking right-backs, thanks largely to his performances on the pitch and his outspoken nature off it, Meunier is now in the process of giving his positional rival a real run for his money.
Meunier has an eye for the spectacular, as evidenced by his wonder strikes against Real Madrid in the International Champions Cup last summer, away at FC Basel in the UEFA Champions League and at home to Lorient in Ligue 1 last month.
PSG fans are not only warming to Meunier's thunderbolt goals but also the honest opinions and depth in character he offers when interacting with them via social media on a range of different topics -- ranging from politics to art and not just football.
With Aurier's future at the capital club not entirely secure because of an on-going court case because of an alleged assault of a police officer, Meunier can use January to make up some ground on the Ivorian in Emery's eyes.
If Aurier is found guilty and sentenced, then PSG could find themselves under pressure to sell him for the sake of their professional reputation and make Meunier their starting right-back.
With that potential eventuality in mind, this period while Aurier is away is also of great importance to the highly rated youth academy graduate Alec Georgen -- who is already a Mino Raiola client.
The 18-year-old has not been given a chance under Emery yet with Aurier and Meunier ahead of him, but now could get a couple of chances when the Spaniard looks to hand the Belgian a breather.
By the time he gets back from Gabon, Aurier could find the competition for places at right-back particularly fierce.