West Ham's pursuit of Jesse Lingard started in January 2021 and finally ended in failure on January 31, 2022.
Lingard, of course, had a hugely successful loan spell at the London Stadium last season but despite West Ham making their intentions clear, the player decided to return to Old Trafford in the summer.
The decision to go back to his boyhood club was taken after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had assured Lingard he was part of his first-team plans, a promise that was quickly broken after the arrivals of Jadon Sancho and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Lingard fell down the pecking order and became a bit-part player, ironically his most important action under Solskjaer's watch came at the London Stadium with a superb goal to defeat his former team.
Game time was hard to come by for Lingard but with Solskajer's sacking and the appointment of interim boss Ralf Rangnick, the 29-year-old believed he would finally get his chance. As it turned out minutes have been even harder to come by under the German with Sancho, Ronaldo, Marcus Rashford, Bruno Fernandes, Anthony Elanga, Anthony Martial and Mason Greenwood all seeing more time on the pitch than Lingard.
Despite Martial's departure to Sevilla and Greenwood no longer being considered for selection, on the morning of deadline day Lingard was given permission by Rangnick to leave his boyhood club.
This news from Old Trafford saw West Ham make a second January approach for Lingard having previously been knocked back. Tottenham Hotspur had made an inquiry earlier in the month and received the same response as West Ham and Newcastle made up a trio of interested parties.
As deadline day continued it was clear that Newcastle were in pole position for Lingard despite the England international privately expressing a preference for a move to West Ham.
Manchester United were understood to be adamant they would not be letting Lingard head to London and strengthen a team they see as a direct rival for a top-four spot.
Whilst this is a huge compliment to West Ham, it scuppered any chance they had of bringing Lingard back, the player was said to be extremely disappointed with this decision but a move to Newcastle was still on the cards.
However, there was one late twist in what had become somewhat of a saga and that was Manchester United pulling the plug on Lingard leaving at all after United insisted on a sizeable bonus payment should Newcastle avoid relegation.
Despite huge interest, Lingard is still at Old Trafford and will now see out the remainder of his contract before becoming a free agent in the summer when another Lingard saga can be expected until the former Hammer finally has the last word on where his future lies.
