After Manuel Ugarte had put pen to paper on a five-year deal at Old Trafford on deadline day, Manchester United were confident they had found the final piece to add to their midfield jigsaw.
United had been chasing Ugarte's tail all summer, spending several weeks locked in negotiations with Paris Saint-Germain before finally reaching an agreement to bring him to the Premier League as the window reached its closing stages.
Following Casemiro's sharp and unexpected decline, United knew they could not say farewell to the summer window having not recruited a new defensive-midfielder.
It was considered as a mission they simply could not afford to fail. READ MORE: I won the Premier League at United - now I work for a bank READ MORE: I got Erik ten Hag on the edge of his seat at Ajax - but he didn't want me at United Ugarte arrived in M16 with a growing reputation for being one of the best defensive-minded midfielders in the business.