Tuesday 1 September 2015 13:49, UK
Here's how David de Gea's move to Real Madrid from Manchester United fell through...
What went wrong?
The deal was left late, and that seems to be the major problem. Despite the saga running all summer Real Madrid reportedly put in their first official bid on Monday. With the fee and terms agreed all that was left to do was to get the paperwork done through FIFA's International Transfer Matching System (ITMS) and with the Spanish League.
Manchester United say they have the time stamps on all paperwork to prove they submitted everything on time and have told Sky Sports they were very keen to get this deal done. But Real Madrid say they received the final fax too late and La Liga were initially quoted as saying they received the relevant documentation from Madrid after the deadline has passed.
They have since told Sky Sports News HQ's Gary Cotterill that they still haven't received any paperwork.
Why so late?
It probably comes down to brinkmanship and trying to keep the price down. United had insisted initially for a £33m asking price, but ultimately they were happy to settle for £29m with Keylor Navas moving in the opposite direction to Old Trafford.
As Guillem Balague told Sky Sports News HQ: "Real Madrid decided to leave it until the last minute. Why? Partly because they felt they could bring the price down. Manchester United were saying the deal was €40m including Keylor Navas. All summer, however, Real Madrid have been saying they would never pay €40m. They started leaking to the press that the agreement was €35m - minus €15m for Navas, so quite a cheap deal.
"Don't forget that Navas had a great pre-season; there was a poll in Madrid that said 80 per cent of fans didn't want De Gea. I wonder if that had anything to do with the fact Real left it late?"
If Real's tactic was intended to bring the price down, it nearly worked but may also have proved their undoing.
Is there any chance that it could still go through?
Balague says Real's hopes of signing De Gea in this window are over.
"Real Madrid, even though they may have had confirmed by FIFA that, yes, they did beat the deadline, actually they're not going to appeal to the league. That's it. The case is over. De Gea will stay at Manchester United and Keylor Navas will be the goalkeeper of Real Madrid.
"Real are not going to go any further because they realise by appealing to the league there was no chance they'd get what they wanted."
Where is De Gea now?
As Balague explains: "The plan was for David de Gea to be introduced to the media at 1pm on Tuesday. De Gea had wanted a new suit for the presentation - everything was in place."
Instead he is due to join up with the Spanish national team at a training camp in Oviedo. Whatever happens next it is out of his hands and he can turn his attention to European qualifiers against Slovakia and Macedonia.
What are the Spanish media saying about this?
Spanish newspaper Marca, led with the headline "Ridiculo! De Gea no vendra a Madrid!" It doesn't need much translating.
