Everyone wishes Ben White had stayed with Leeds United, everyone apart from Brighton & Hove Albion, of course.
The Whites evidently did, based on the multiple attempts to smash their transfer record and land arguably England’s best defender outside the Premier League.
The United faithful evidently did based on their #FreeBenWhite movement across social media at the height of the transfer window.
Even White himself probably did. Contract talks with the Seagulls were neither started nor concluded quickly and, in the end, he had little choice once he knew Tony Bloom was not budging on his value.
You could even make a case for the rest of the Premier League wishing he had stayed put too, especially those who will swoop to pick him up in a year or two.
Imagine the player they would go on to acquire with two or three years under Bielsa at the highest level.
The 23-year-old only had one season in West Yorkshire, but he may never experience another campaign like that, with such highs, such silverware, such support and such tight-knit friendships forged to last a lifetime.
White was a nobody on loan at Newport County when Alex Davies, a member of Victor Orta’s scouting team, first flagged him up.
While the first chance to get him was turned down in 2018, one year later he was plucked from obscurity and his career was given the kickstart he wanted.
Upon signing his new contract with Brighton, White said: "We've been through a lot, that season.
"It's the best time of my life, winning a trophy, so they'll always be in my heart, the players and staff that were there."
Everyone, bar Brighton, may have wished he’d stayed, but he did not. Parties go their separate ways and the Whites are doing just fine with the likes of Robin Koch blooded and developing.
That campaign was outstanding, though. White was a Rolls-Royce of a centre-back, right from the word go at Bristol City.
The way he read the game, rarely got caught out of position, would bring the ball down, played on the deck or in the air, could mix it physically and technically with any kind of striker.
There were the Cruyff turns, the drag-backs, the drives from defence into the midfield, the nutmegs, the final-day volley, the 46 uninterrupted starts, the lob across his own penalty box over Wayne Rooney’s head.
White made it look so easy and he will return to Elland Road tomorrow as one of those heroes who ended the 16 years in the doldrums.
This week, Liam Cooper told LUTV how much he was looking forward to catching up with White, his partner in crime at the back last term.
White still has many friends at Elland Road who will be lucky enough to reminisce with him about that special 2019/20 season.
On the long list of travesties delivered by this pandemic, Ben White missing out on the reception he deserves from 30,000-plus Leeds United supporters is a long way down, but a travesty it is nonetheless.
There will not be many players who return to a former loan club with barely 50 appearances to their name and get the reception White would have got tomorrow.
After a season like he had, with what he delivered, he would have deserved every clap and cheer.
