It's 11 months since David de Gea sat in a hotel room in Perth on Manchester United's pre-season tour and expressed a desire to finish his career at Old Trafford. His contract status was a talking point last July and everyone in that room knew it was a big year for the Spaniard's future.
Everyone that is, expects United. With the 32-year-old no longer an employee of the club this Saturday, they are still yet to decide whether they want De Gea to continue next season and in what kind of role. It would be laughable if it wasn't so farcical.
A club that not so long ago was a laughing stock when it came to the smoothness of its operation is parodying itself once again. United had taken huge strides forward under the leadership of chief executive Richard Arnold, football director John Murtough and Erik ten Hag, but the De Gea situation reflects poorly on a club that has designs on challenging for titles.
Just imagine Manchester City leaving it until the final 24 hours of a contract to make a decision on a player. Just imagine Liverpool doing the same. They wouldn't. These are the two clubs that have dominated the Premier League landscape in recent years and they have done it through the shrewdness of their decision-making as much as the quality of the football. One begets the other.
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United are a week or so away from returning to pre-season and have no idea who their first-choice goalkeeper will be. At the moment it's between wantaway Dean Henderson and 37-year-old Tom Heaton. United took the one-year option on Heaton's contract due to the uncertainty around their goalkeeping department, even though he was attracting interest from Luton and Hull and wanted to play more regularly.
Ten Hag has clearly gone cold on De Gea as the season has progressed, but that's no excuse for an inability of the club to make a proactive, bold call. If the Dutchman wants a new goalkeeper, then it's time to deliver one.
There have been suggestions that an unconvincing display in the FA Cup final was the final nail in the coffin for De Gea, that his failure to stop at least one of Ilkay Gundogan's long-range goals might have sealed his fate. But no serious football club makes a decision on a player with more than 500 appearances for them on one 90-minute game.
The idea that De Gea wasn't going to be Ten Hag's goalkeeper for the long term took hold back in August, when his distribution contributed to the disastrous 4-0 defeat at Brentford. There have been errors with his feet at various points since then. None of this is a surprise to United.
But they have gone from identifying young goalkeepers to serve an apprenticeship behind De Gea, such as Anderlecht's Bart Verbruggen, to eyeing Inter Milan's Andre Onana. He played 145 games under Ten Hag at Ajax and is clearly a much better fit for his style of play than De Gea.
Is there value in keeping De Gea as a No. 2? Possibly, but he'd almost certainly be the most handsomely paid back-up goalkeeper in world football. A day before his contract ends, it smacks of United still being unsure of their own plans.
They may point to a tight transfer budget this summer, to concerns over FFP rules, but all this episode really reflects is uncertainty when it comes to football decisions. If Ten Hag wants to move on from De Gea it is time to cut the cord, but then that call should have been before the season ended, rather than now.
It has left United taking the option on Heaton's contract and placed Henderson in limbo, back at Carrington when he expects to actually sign for Nottingham Forest.
Ten Hag's first summer at Old Trafford and his first season in charge have offered plenty of green shoots of recovery. Last summer's transfer business was excellent and a third-place finish, a trophy and a second cup final was an impressive return on the pitch.
But if United are to close the gap on Manchester City then they need to start acting like their rivals would. They need to show ruthless, decisive decision-making which is a trait of every successful club.
And regardless of the footballing decisions that factor into the De Gea uncertainty, this is a player who has won the Sir Matt Busby award for player of the season on four occasions. His 545 appearances place him seventh on the all-time list. He is due a little more respect.
His 12 years of service to the club should warrant clearer communication, a more joined-up decision progress. He should be worthy of a proper farewell, rather than this shambles. The yawning emoji he posted on Twitter on Wednesday must surely reflect poorly on the club. It was an unambiguous tweet, but I think we all know De Gea wasn't actually sleepy. More likely he was bored of the indecision and the way he's been treated.
He might not be the future for United and he clearly isn't a natural fit for Ten Hag's system. But someone just make a decision.
