Hamza Choudhury had hoped to complete a loan move to Newcastle United last month and it is easy to see why as the Leicester City midfielder continues to wait to make his first appearance of the season for the Foxes.
Steve Bruce has attempted to sign Choudhury in each of the last two transfer windows but the move did not come off in either January or August.
Brendan Rodgers was unable to secure a replacement in the mid-season window last season so the Leicester boss did not want to let Choudhury go then.
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Rodgers was open to allowing Choudhury to join Newcastle on loan last summer, however, after signing former Magpies target Boubakary Soumare from Lille, but the club's hierarchy did not grant Bruce's wish.
Bruce was left frustrated by that setback and the powers at be took the rather unprecedented step of releasing a statement to stress that there was a 'shared understanding that further additions to the playing squad would be heavily influenced by player trading, both in terms of available funds and space in the squad,' following Joe Willock's arrival on a permanent deal.
Newcastle, of course, in Bruce's own words, had 'broken all the rules' to sign Willock from Arsenal after agreeing to pay the transfer fee in instalments - which is not the club's usual policy.
Given the lack of interest in Newcastle's fringe players, who are all tied to sizeable contracts, Bruce struggled to raise additional funds.
It will be interesting to see if Bruce revisits the Choudhury deal, yet again, in January when Newcastle's hierarchy may be a little more open to signings depending on the club's predicament in the table and it is worth bearing in mind that the Magpies still have two domestic loan slots.
Although Isaac Hayden and Sean Longstaff are both performing, and Jonjo Shelvey is on his way back from a calf injury, Bruce could create space for a new arrival by letting, say, Freddie Woodman go out on loan and Leicester are sure to be open to loaning Choudhury out once more.
Choudhury, after all, has not played for the club since the Foxes' FA Cup final win against Chelsea way back in May.
Tellingly, however, Choudhury has continued to give his all behind the scenes, which perhaps hints at why Bruce likes the 23-year-old's character so much.
"To his credit, he's been absolutely first class in training even though he hasn't featured," Rodgers said last month. "It can be difficult for a player because you train to play the game, but he's understood where he's at.
"He's maturing all the time as a professional and as a player so he's just training away."
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