Manchester United have been given another reminder of their £50m transfer mistake

When Manchester United signed Aaron Wan-Bissaka in the summer of 2019 they liked to boast that they had whittled down a database of 804 right-backs before making Crystal Palace’s player of the year their first choice.

It told us United’s computers had sizable memory, but little else about recruitment, given Wan-Bissaka was the player they were linked with throughout that transfer window and always looked the most obvious solution.

Nearly three years on, with Wan-Bissaka having lost his place in the United team to another unconvincing right-back, it would be interesting to know who the other 803 right-backs on that list were, although it feels like most of them have been selected by England since. Eight hundred and fourth is roughly where Wan-Bissaka features on Gareth Southgate’s list of potential right-backs.

The summer of 2019 was the height of the “cultural reset” that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ed Woodward had decided United needed and apparently Wan-Bissaka fit the bill nicely.

"He has the right work ethic, talent and mentality to play for Manchester United and he fits exactly the type of player that we are looking to bring into the squad to help us improve and push on further,” said Solskjaer.

In September 2019 Wan-Bissaka had settled well and was called into the England squad for the first time. Now it looks increasingly like his withdrawal with a back injury will be the final first and final act of his Three Lions career.

Last summer Gareth Southgate selected four right-backs in his provisional European Championship squad - Trent Alexander-Arnold, Reece James, Kyle Walker and Kieran Trippier - and nobody was surprised that Wan-Bissaka wasn’t even mentioned in the debate.

A year ago Southgate mentioned two