Nostalgia can be a wonderful thing, especially in football, but striving to restore the perfection of the past can be an impossible challenge.
For years, Manchester United sought to identify a goalkeeper who could match the impact of Peter Schmeichel. Never mind the fact that the Dane wasn't always unstoppable - the memories of his impact at Old Trafford meant many were doomed to try and fail to succeed him until Edwin van der Sar and then David de Gea won the fans over.
Six years passed between Schmeichel's exit and Van der Sar's arrival, and you sensed United didn't want history to repeat themselves once they realised Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic wouldn't be around forever. However, more than a decade since the first potential successor signed on the dotted line, United are £275m in the hole - with Lisandro Martinez the latest addition - and no closer to finding a partnership as brilliant.
