Six weeks before the January transfer window opened for business, Manchester United didn't expect to do anything this month. It's never feet up time when you work in recruitment for one of the world's biggest clubs, but key figures at Old Trafford expected the month to pass without much fanfare.
Part of the reason for that was the absence of any funds to actually do business with. In spending £225million last summer, United went well over the budget set by the Glazer family. Late deals for Casemiro and Antony were pushed through at the behest of Erik ten Hag and while the window has been a success, it was always going to take a long-term toll.
But ambitions for a quiet January are only one unexpected twist away from going up in smoke. John Murtough and his team have the dastardly double act of Piers Morgan and Andy Carroll, with a cameo from Martin Dubravka, to thank for changing their plans. Like I said, sometimes it's the unexpected that can catch you out.
READ MORE: Murtough impact and Ten Hag video calls - The story of United's January
Ten Hag's squad was far from the finished article back in November, but it covered most bases. Plans to sign a younger midfielder and a world-class striker would have to wait until the summer, when deals are easier to do and the budget would be clearer, especially if Champions League qualification has been secured.
Then came Cristiano Ronaldo's incendiary interview with Morgan, the first plot twist for the month. That pre-World Cup spectacle had to spell the end for the 37-year-old and United simply couldn't afford to continue this season with just Anthony Martial to lead their attack.
On Saturday came Carroll's contribution to the Old Trafford drama. He was booked twice during a bizarre performance for Reading, but somehow escaped censure for his crude tackle on Christian Eriksen, which has left the midfielder facing at least three months on the sidelines.
With Donny van de Beek out for the season and Scott McTominay also currently injured, United had to be reawoken from their transfer hiatus for a second time. Surviving with just Casemiro, Fred and Bruno Fernandes at a time when games are coming twice a week was too big a risk to take.
All of this uncertainty has come at a time when Ten Hag has steered the club into a promising January position. Talk of a title challenge might have lasted just four days, but they are well placed to finish in the top four, can already look forward to the Carabao Cup final, are making serene progress in the FA Cup and play Barcelona twice in the Europa League in February.
This window has thrown up two major, unexpected problems for United, and they've been dealt with calmly, efficiently and intelligently. It won't grab the headlines compared to last summer's shopping spree, or the year before, when Raphael Varane, Jadon Sancho and Cristiano Ronaldo burst through the doors, but the window has shown the progress being made at the club.
Next season will probably begin without Marcel Sabitzer or Wout Weghorst in Ten Hag's squad, but both are short-term solutions to specific problems, sourced at a relatively low cost. We've already seen that Weghorst is capable of making a contribution this term and Sabitzer should be as well. He's struggled for regular game time at Bayern Munich and was an in-demand midfielder at RB Leipzig.
The importance of both players isn't just what they can do, but what they can allow others to do. Weghorst is cover for Martial and a rotation option to keep the Frenchman sharp for the biggest occasions, while Sabitzer will allow the midfielders left fit and available to be rotated.
United's loan fee for Weghorst was just £2.6million and they pulled off that deal despite the complication of the player starting the month on a season-long loan at Besiktas. When they found out the extent of Eriksen's injury in the 36 hours before the end of the window they acted swiftly, contacting Bayern Munich about Sabitzer on deadline day and pulling off what one source described as a "surgical" deal.
Neither is the dream signing some fans might have wanted, but then that was never going to be the case. Ten Hag was told last summer that United were going over budget and the message was reinforced in December that deals this month would be low-cost. To have achieved what they have, in that scenario, is a positive for United.
This window has come at a time when United's approach to recruitment has altered, although we've been here before with 'recruitment resets' at Old Trafford. It was an expensive summer, but one led by football director Murtough, rather than chief executive Richard Arnold, with significant input from Ten Hag.
United's approach to data in recruitment has also been strengthened, particularly since the appointment of Dominic Jordan as the club's first director of data science in October 2021. When a particular position is looked at now, they can 'push a button', in the words of one source, to compile a five-man shortlist, at which point the manager makes the final call.
But that kind of long-term approach doesn't work so well when a spanner is thrown into the works. Weghorst and Sabitzer won't be coming out in a top five of many lists this summer, but they were signed as a result of that collaborative approach. Particularly Weghorst, with his character attractive to Ten Hag.
There is also the nature of Ten Hag to factor into this. He rarely takes no for an answer when it comes to transfers, both at Ajax and, as we're seeing, at United. He was the driving force behind the summer spending and pushed hard for a striker earlier this month.
On Tuesday afternoon, when discussing the possibility of signing a midfielder, he said: "I said from day one, when there are opportunities we will look and that is also for every hour we have still, if there are opportunities we have to act but it is so difficult."
In the end, Ten Hag will be happy with his window. For managing to keep the smile on his face, when the budget was busted, United deserve plenty of credit.
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