Sergino Dest's potential move to Manchester United was derailed by none other than John Murtough during the latter stages of the transfer window.
The USA international's time at Barcelona seemed all but up with Xavi deeming the defender surplus to requirements. The 21-year-old eventually sealed a loan move to Serie A titans AC Milan, with a £17.5m buy-out clause included.
For a time, United emerged as contenders for the right-back. Diogo Dalot, who has since had an impressive start to this season, wasn't a particularly strong option in the position while Erik ten Hag was happy to let £50m Aaron Wan-Bissaka leave altogether.
Dest was viewed as a better player than Wan-Bissaka for his system by Ten Hag and, as such, was happy to bring the Barcelona man into his squad. However, according to The Athletic, transfer chief Murtough shut down any potential transfer by choosing to back Wan-Bissaka.
But that move hasn't gone particularly well for Murtough so far with Ten Hag making perfectly clear what he thinks of the former Crystal Palace man. The Dutch manager chose to start Dalot ahead of Wan-Bissaka in the 1-0 Europa League defeat to Real Sociedad, a heavily rotated side.
The likes of Harry Maguire, Victor Lindelof and Cristiano Ronaldo all came out from the cold in a chance to prove themselves - especially Maguire and Ronaldo following the Brentford mauling. But instead of resting his first choice right-back, Ten Hag still opted to start the Portuguese star over his English colleague.
Regardless, Ten Hag's wishes were blocked by Murtough and Dest sealed his move to Italy. He has since made one appearance in the Champions League, coming off the bench in a 1-1 draw against RB Salzburg on Tuesday.
Dest isn't the only target Ten Hag was unable to get his hands on this summer, with the American's teammate Frenkie De Jong United's main man. The former Ajax star was heavily mooted with a move to Old Trafford and linking up with his former manager all summer. But the 25-year-old opted to stay at the Nou Camp, even with Xavi's threats to play him at centre-back.
Instead, United brought in Real Madrid's Casemiro for a somewhat surprising £70m. While Christian Eriksen has played the 'De Jong' role so far this season and impressed.
And it wasn't all doom and gloom for Ten Hag during the summer. The new United boss was handed key signings Tyrell Malacia, Lisandro Martinez and Antony, as well as the aforementioned Eriksen. So far, every one of Ten Hag's signings have impressed, suggesting he should be listened to more during future transfer windows.
