Facundo Pellistri has spent two years at Manchester United without making his debut at Old Trafford and that has left supporters, who have watched him start for Uruguay at the Qatar World Cup, confused and wondering why he hasn't played.
The truth is Uruguay have a dearth of right-sided talent and the only competition Pellistri currently has in the squad is Agustin Canobbio, who plays for Brazilian club Athletico Paranaense. Canobbio has contributed three goals and no assists in the 44 appearances he's made in 2022 and even Mundial Magazine-reading football hipsters wouldn't pretend to know who he is.
Pellistri must be the one of only players who has started for his nation at the World Cup without having made his first-team debut for his domestic club, but his starts for Uruguay have hardly been earned on merit, as they have mostly been won by default.
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The winger is 20 years old and it's obviously an excellent achievement to regularly start for Uruguay, regardless of the circumstances, but it's fortuitous that he's emerged in his position at a time when the national team clearly lacks quality on the right wing.
Pellistri played a key role in Uruguay's World Cup qualifying campaign and there has long been a clamour from United supporters for him to make his debut, without any real substance to support those calls. It's thought that Pellistri must be good enough to play in Manchester if he starts for Uruguay, but playing for his country does not reflect his ability as some would have you believe.
He started against South Korea last week and his mediocre performance was not what his cult following on social media were hoping to watch. Pellistri was workmanlike, his end product was poor and he was brought off the pitch in the final minutes.
The clamour for Donny van de Beek to start at Old Trafford quickly died when the midfielder was given opportunities and it seems likely that Pellistri could eventually fall victim to the same fate, which could be dubbed the Van de Beek phenomenon .
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer signed Pellistri from Penarol for £9million in October 2020 and he was placed into the academy to find his feet, playing six games for the Under-21s, before he was loaned to La Liga side Deportivo Alaves in January 2021.
Pellistri was too lightweight and raw for United's first-team and it was hoped his loan would accelerate his development. Although he made just five starts in the second half of that campaign for Alaves, he regularly featured from the bench and he did enough for the club to re-sign him on another season-long loan that summer, despite failing to score or assist during his time there.
If Pellistri's first six months in Spain were promising, a young player trying to find his way, then his next 12 months were disastrous and an example of a loan move gone wrong. Pellistri played under three separate managers during his time at the club and the coach who initially signed him, Abelardo Fernandez, was already sacked by the time he was re-signed on loan in the summer.
The other two managers did not consider Pellistri a first-team starter and he played just 750 minutes across that full season, which equates to around 80 minutes for each month he was there, and he failed to score or assist again during that second stint.
It's understood United were aware of Pellistri's situation and they considered recalling him but that never happened. Pellistri saw the season through and he returned to Carrington in the summer, hungry to prove a point to the newly appointed Erik ten Hag.
Pellistri scored against Liverpool on the pre-season tour of Thailand and Australia and he made a cameo against Atletico Madrid in Oslo, but he failed to make a convincing case for first-team involvement and that's exactly where he remains.
The winger has been named on the bench by Ten Hag eight times this season and he's been an unused substitute on each occasion. Pellistri has officially played just 60 minutes at club level and that was for the U21s against Barrow in the Papa John's Trophy.
It's said that Pellistri has been desperate to impress and that his attitude can't be questioned, with the player doing extra training, but he's worked under a number of managers over the last few years and each has thought he's not been ready to start.
That explains why he's yet to make his debut at Old Trafford: he hasn't been good enough. Pellistri remains young and he's got time on his side, but it looks like his future lies elsewhere and his agent has even suggested that.
"I think with a good World Cup, as we think he is going to have, his departure [from United] is imminent," his representative said earlier this month. United are open to loan offers for Pellistri and it's likely he will leave on a six-month deal in January.
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