Manchester United find themselves facing a medical emergency at Old Trafford - and it seems to be all of their own making.
Just last weekend interim boss Ralf Rangnick admitted he'd accepted the advice of his vast team of medical staff and decided not to pick Cristiano Ronaldo or Edinson Cavani.
Rangnick said: "What does it help if I tell you it is frustrating? It is just a fact, if players tell the doctors they are not fit and cannot play, I have to accept it.
"Edi trained in the last three days. He trained well, but he still felt after those three training sessions that he is not fit to play. As a manager I cannot force a player, if he does not feel fit to play."
The alarm bells must be ringing so loud inside Rangnick's head when it comes to Cavani and some others, that he's in danger of going deaf.
Cavani trousers almost £10m-a-season from United, but appears to be now choosing when and where he is prepared to play.
More than a month has passed since the veteran striker last pulled on a United shirt, but in that time he still managed to find it in himself to fly back to South America to represent Uruguay.
Ronaldo, meanwhile, was reported to have a hip problem that forced him to miss the thrashing at Manchester City, yet United bosses still granted him permission to jump on a plane and jet back to Portugal.
Call me old-fashioned, but if players are injured, shouldn't they be going to the training ground instead for treatment?
Perhaps these two wily old pros knew what was coming at the Etihad.
But the fact remains that United, those so-called bastions of the English game, have got themselves into the farcical position of allowing their stars to dictate when they actually play.
Cavani has been running rings round United for months.
He was granted an eight-week holiday in the summer by former boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, and missed last month's FA Cup defeat to Middlesbrough because he couldn't be bothered busting a gut to get back from South America.
We've also seen Paul Pogba disappear to Dubai whenever he's fancied it to have treatment for injuries, Marcus Rashford fly all the way to America to promote his brand despite suffering from a double stress fracture of his back, and David De Gea disappear back to Spain for weeks on end because his partner had given birth.
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United claim to be the biggest club in the world, but resemble nothing more significant than the biggest holiday camp in the world these days.
Players come and go when it suits them and such a soft approach from those supposed to be making the tough decisions at Old Trafford is now reflecting in performances and results. The club is simply reaping what it's sown.
You tend to get out of life what you put into it - and football is no different.
So if United go on to miss out on Champions League qualification and finish another woeful campaign without silverware, they'll only have themselves to blame for being too weak with those paid obscene amounts to deliver success.
