If David de Gea is playing hardball with Manchester United then he might be waking up this morning regretting his negotiating position. His stance has been considerably weakened after a woeful night in Seville.
Rather than looking to wring a few extra thousand pounds a week out of United, the Spanish goalkeeper might have to make concessions of his own. This was a performance so disastrous that it could well force a rethink of the entire strategy for Erik ten Hag's goalkeepers.
Collectively this was an abomination of a performance from United, but the 3-0 defeat to Sevilla that dumped them out of the Europa League will be a stain on De Gea's copybook. He has been a great for United, but the question over whether he is good enough and suitable enough to continue are getting louder. They were deafening in the Ramon Sanchez-Pijuan.
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De Gea had blundered badly in the second game of this season, when a short, central pass to Christian Eriksen was pounced on at Brentford as part of a rude awakening for the new era. At that point, plans to build from the back were scaled back.
The Spaniard held his hands up to apologise that day, but his hands have never really been the problem. With talks over an extension to a contract that expires in just over two months at a delicate stage, his performance in Seville was a reminder that he is a far from perfect goalkeeper for Ten Hag's United.
The Dutchman was never likely to abandon one of his key principles for long and gradually the demands on De Gea have risen. Against Sevilla in the Europa League quarter-final second leg, he showed again that he will never be up to them.
On Wednesday, Ten Hag had spoken about how "in possession has become more and more important" for a goalkeeper, but backed De Gea as "really multifunctional". He must know that isn't the case.
Harry Maguire will share the blame for Sevilla's opening goal. Maybe he deserves more of the spotlight for it, but De Gea's decision to pass to his captain, even if he was calling for the ball, was misguided.
Sevilla had started at a ferocious tempo and were pressing United aggressively. There were three players near Maguire and as soon as De Gea shaped to pass to him, they pounced.
This is a goalkeeper who lacks the confidence to pick his passes from the back and isn't comfortable enough to pick his moments and his angles. This was a time to either go wide to Aaron Wan-Bissaka, reducing the risk, or just go long, take the sting out of the game. Instead, De Gea played Maguire into trouble.
It's been a disaster waiting to happen for a while, it just happened with terrible timing for United. The early goal kept the atmosphere intense in Seville.
If that early error was understandable, then the mistake for the third was simply inexplicable. It was beyond comprehension for a goalkeeper at this level to make such a mistake.
When the ball was hammered forward with the hosts finally under some pressure, De Gea had time to leave his area and return it. Only he will know what he was trying to do, but as he stuck his right leg out at a bizarre angle it looked like he'd never kicked a ball before.
With the goalkeeper in a torrid tangle on the turf, Youssef En-Nesyri slotted home into an empty net for his second goal, barely able to understand the gift he had just been given. Again.
That error will be De Gea's most glaring of the season, but it's not an isolated incident. Against Real Betis at Old Trafford in the previous round De Gea's kicking was so erratic that even Ten Hag said he couldn't ignore it. Every game seems to include at least one mistake from the 32-year-old, whether it's playing a pass straight to the opposition or straight out of play.
De Gea can also be hesitant behind a high line. He almost got in a tangle with Maguire again inside the first 20 minutes, racing off his line and getting too close to Maguire, who had to hook the ball clear. The goalkeeper wasn't getting to the ball to clear and wasn't far enough back to receive a pass.
There were also legitimate questions about his role for the second goal. Loic Bade's header looped off his shoulder and glanced in off the crossbar, but De Gea got his timing wrong. He would have expected to save it.
He would also have expected to avoid the first and third goals. This might be a night that accelerates the end of De Gea at United.
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