Much has been Harry Maguire's fault at Manchester United this season but it was not his fault they signed him.
Everyone knew in 2019 United were committed to spending significantly on a centre-back after fatefully failing to do so the previous year and suffering their worst defensive season in 40 years and they were railroaded into signing Maguire.
Virgil van Dijk, a planetary talent still considered the finest centre half on the planet, had long since joined Liverpool, Raphael Varane and Kalidou Koulibaly were unattainable and Matthijs de Ligt was a non-starter as he was represented by Mino Raiola.
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Milan Skriniar of Inter Milan seemed too aligned with Jose Mourinho whereas Maguire, who briefly played under Mike Phelan at Hull and is English, was more in keeping with United's strategy of targeting British players at selling clubs.
Maguire had actually been shortlisted, along with Skriniar and Koulibaly, by Mourinho in the 2018 summer transfer window. Leicester valued Maguire at £75million and United balked at it as the deadline loomed. A year later, they bought him for £80m - still a record for a defender.
This summer is shaping up to be similar to 2019 and not just because United are flying to Asian and Australian timezones. A new manager will be preparing for his first full season with the soullessness of Thursday night football likely to be on the calendar.
United's pull in the market in 2019 was their lowest in decades. It should not plummet as far in the summer as their next manager will have a profile to attract players of some repute, although it is uncertain how many players are enticed by the prospect of working under Erik ten Hag. That is where Mauricio Pochettino has the advantage, despite his waning stock.
Or perhaps he doesn't. Unlike in 2019, United have a football structure with a director of football negotiations, a football director and a technical director. Their dealings three years ago were undeniably unsuccessful. Daniel James was sold in August, Aaron Wan-Bissaka is an expensive dud and Maguire's walking disaster of a season has made his captaincy status untenable.
United overpaid for Maguire in that he has not had the transformative effect fellow centre halves Van Dijk and Ruben Dias have had at Liverpool and Manchester City. Both have Premier League winner's medals and played in a Champions League final, Van Dijk claimed the PFA Player of the Year and Dias the Football Writers' Association's equivalent.
Yet City coveted Maguire in 2019 and his signing was endorsed by Sir Alex Ferguson. Leicester sold their best players at inflated prices and Maguire was instrumental to England's joint-best World Cup performance since 1966.
Maguire's stock at United was at its zenith when he was absent for last season's run-in. With the Yorkshireman bellowing from the back, United peaked at a misleading second in a season of training ground-style matches but their defensive record regressed.
Booing, heckling, jeering, sarcastic cheering, Maguire has copped it all this season and been found out with expectations raised at the world's most scrutinised sporting institution. He is not a lost cause but the captaincy should be revoked and United need a new centre-back as Eric Bailly and Phil Jones have outstayed their welcomes.
United's immediate instinct may be to spend heavily again when that would be misguided, particularly as they are canvassing Ralf Rangnick on the strength of his recruitment hit-rate. In hindsight, rather than plumping for Maguire, United should have recruited Dayot Upamecano, monitored by the former head of academy recruitment Derek Langley, Ibrahima Konate or a defender of a similar profile: young, athletic, cost-efficient and with resale value.
The pressure would not have been as intense and it worked, for a season at least, with Eric Bailly in 2016. His £30m fee was steep at the time but within a year Bailly was a bargain worth double after an impressive campaign and amid the market inflation.
Some fans implore United to sign any stellar name that has a high rating on the Fifa video game but people at the club have downplayed the social media noise. Those in the scouting department - Marcel Bout, Mick Court et al. - need to justify their titles.
Bout has been the head of global scouting for five-and-a-half years and the club's hit-rate is little better than when the Dutchman assisted Louis van Gaal on recruits. Court, the technical chief scout who heads up the recruitment department, vetoed some of Mourinho's targets in 2018.
Whoever the next manager is, they might feel like Brad Pitt during the scouting scene in Moneyball when a collection of minds assemble and all think they know best but are urged to 'think differently'.
"No matter how successful you are, change is always good," Moneyball author Michael Lewis wrote. "There can never be a status quo... You have to always be upgrading. Otherwise, you’re f----d."
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had good intentions in his first summer of recruiting players invested in playing for the club yet the sole success on that front was James, a curious addition from Championship side Swansea who had signed a contract with Leeds five months earlier. Wan-Bissaka's quiet personality is the antithesis of what Solskjaer wanted and United attempted to replace him with Kieran Trippier last year. Maguire reserves his standout performances for England. That is his fault.
