United made public and private assurances to their #1 goalkeeper, who had been with the club for 12 years, about his place in the squad.
They sent him a new contract, which he signed, only to never return a copy with the club’s signature. That is how United decided to let Alex Ferguson’s last goalkeeper know that they would, in fact, be moving on after all.
The club then signed replacement for a hefty €55mil fee, because he was the then-manager’s favored goalkeeper at his previous club, which is how United did their transfer business for 2-3 years.
But the manager then decided to use him in a completely different way than before, which highlighted all of his weaknesses and hid all of his strenghts, leading to one gaffe after another, and question marks regarding the decision to sign him.
The club then almost parted ways with the manager, but decide to renew his contract on the basis of one cup game, only to sack him 3 months later, leaving his handpicked goalie, now utterly lacking confidence, at the club.
A new manager came in and soon decided the GK was one of key reasons for his ~20% win rate, so he started experimenting with his understudy with no experience outside the Turkish league, who conceded 4 goals in his first Premier league match.
The gaffe-prone starter GK and the Turkish understudy were still supposed to be club’s primary options this season, but then the #1 GK got injured on the first day of the pre-season and the manager decided he doesn’t want him after all, urging the executives to find a replacement.
So two years after spending €55mil on its new GK, the club decided to ditch him and got a replacement, a promising young GK with no experience outside the Belgian league.
And now the club wants to send its previous #1, who only 2 months ago was supposed to stay at the club, on a loan to Turkey, leaving as its GK options: the Belgian wonderki, new to the league, the Turkish understudy and a seasoned veteran born during the Thatcher era, before Sir Alex took over United.
Quite an impressive saga in merely 24 months. But that’s Manchester United for you these days, unfortunately.