That Jesse Lingard is still at Manchester United is a failure of the club's broken structure. In the summer, any objective judge would have concluded Lingard was surplus and sellable after a reinvigorating four-month loan with West Ham.
Sources close to Lingard suggested at the time United didn't really want to sell Lingard. That seemed odd. Lingard was 28, in the last year of his contract and Jadon Sancho was expected at Manchester Airport.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was effusive about Lingard at Derby, where he was bright in United's opening pre-season friendly. Solskjaer was adamant Lingard would have started the competitive season against Leeds but for contracting Covid-19 a week earlier. When a fit-and-firing Lingard was available at Wolves two weeks later, Daniel James started ahead of him.
James was sold to Leeds two days later and that was the point where members of the United dressing room started to openly question Solskjaer's selections. Discussions over a new contract with Lingard have collapsed and his situation has been described as 'a s--tshow'.
Lingard scored classily against Newcastle, recovered from erring against Young Boys with a thumping winner at West Ham and cleverly laid it off for Cristiano Ronaldo to claim the glory against Villarreal all before October. His reward? Twenty-nine minutes of playing time.
Leeds, prone to misjudging a transfer involving their nemesis, paid £25million up front for James, rising to £30m. United stand to make a 100 per cent profit on a player bought from Swansea two years ago. The fee was transparently detailed by Ed Woodward on the last investors' call in September.
Given the choice of the two, any other club would have spent the funds on Lingard. Nobody was going to drop that amount on a player whose contract was less than a year away from being shredded until the last weeks of the transfer window. West Ham dithered like their manager often does in the market until separate £25m deals for Kurt Zouma and Nikola Vlasic in the last days of the window. £25m was roughly Lingard's valuation.
A savvy club suit, like Daniel Levy, would have waited it out and eventually got the desired fee. Yet United were compromised by Solskjaer's sentimental rhetoric that Lingard was 'in the plans at the moment'. David Moyes confirmed Solskjaer had informed him 'quite early in the transfer window that he wanted to keep him'.
United lacked a credible figure above the manager to tell Lingard and Solskjaer that, it is best to cut ties. They still lack one.
John Murtough, United's football director, has done commendable work in his eight years at the club but compliance reigns when there needs to be some conflict. There was too much of it under Jose Mourinho and United now favour the extreme opposite. It is not as successful.
Lingard has been at United since he was seven. That's three-quarters of his life. But a director of football or chief executive are dutybound to communicate tough decisions. Woodward has privately trumpeted United's 'cold' decisions to sell Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez.
Lingard was determined to fight for his place and there was enough mitigation to embolden him - a full pre-season, Marcus Rashford's injury, Anthony Martial's irrelevance, Jadon Sancho's and Edinson Cavani's extended leave. But he could not see the wood for the trees.
Solskjaer can be loose with the truth where a player's future is concerned - on the record, anyway. United were keeping their options open with Lingard with the season almost upon them and that indecision was the problem.
Indecision is rife at United, where David de Gea became the second-choice goalkeeper last season without being outright dropped. A fixture backlog in May prompted Solskjaer to change the pattern of rotation that ensured De Gea would start the Europa League final. That was unfair on De Gea and Dean Henderson.
Paul Pogba outlined his desire to leave United and Solskjaer turned on the media. They are not keeping or selling him. Lingard was sold a pup. Anthony Elanga was in the first-team squad, then out of it, and missed out on a loan. Even Lee Grant's contract was renewed after the previous deal expired.
Moyes spoke intimately with Lingard after his blockbuster winner at the London Stadium in September and that was the first of just two defeats for West Ham all season. They are fourth and Moyes is conducting his best work since he was in his pomp at Everton 13 years ago.
Vlasic, the alternative attacking addition to Lingard, has only started once in the Premier League. Lingard was so transformative for West Ham last season his goals propelled them into the Europa League and a return could upgrade West Ham to Champions League status.
Lingard and Pogba, members of United's last FA Youth Cup-winning squad in 2011, could both depart on frees next year - for the second time, in Pogba's case. United are historically bad sellers dating back to Sir Alex Ferguson's era and only Ronaldo, Romelu Lukaku and Angel di Maria have left United for higher fees than James.
Ander Herrera's contract expired when he was 29 and he has since started in a Champions League final. Sergio Romero, a World Cup finalist, spent his last year in personal lockdown. Marcos Rojo, also a starter for Argentina against Germany in 2014, cost less than a bag of magic beans. Seven of United's last 13 sales were players in the last year of their contract. The James fee was such an anomaly one wondered if United had loaned in Levy.
The upside for the next United manager is the outgoings clear the decks and would allow him to sign players in their image. Edinson Cavani and Juan Mata are more certain to go than Pogba and Lingard, a full-back should be shifted and dead wood is floating at centre-back and in midfield.
The structure needs fixing first, though.
