Joao Cancelo made three starts for Manchester City in January, and in two of them Pep Guardiola couldn't help but get on his case.
Monday's news that the Portuguese full-back is set to join Bayern Munich on an initial loan deal, eventually completing a permanent move, may have come out of the blue somewhat, but the tensions were clear to see in the past month.
Cancelo has failed to start in each of City's last three matches in all competitions, and the emergence of young full-back Rico Lewis is a key factor in sanctioning the departure.
With Nathan Ake also capable of doing a good job at left-back, Kyle Walker still sprightly enough to play in the majority of City's games, and John Stones and Aymeric Laporte also used at full-back of late, Cancelo might well have known that the writing was on the wall.
In City's opening game of 2023 at Chelsea, the Portuguese began the game on the right flank and spent the whole of the first half directly in front of Guardiola, who was never afraid to tell him what he thought.
Guardiola had also picked Walker behind Cancelo in a defence which included Stones and Ake, and when things weren't quite working as he intended he called several of his players over to impart instructions.
Walker was even asked over by the manager before kick-off, and Erling Haaland then just one minute in. Kevin De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva also weren't safe from the his ire, but it was Cancelo who seemed to get the most urgent of the dressing downs.
The former Valencia, Inter Milan and Juventus man didn't appear at all happy with what he was being asked to do in a slightly skewed formation, and after being hooked for Lewis at half-time he cut a disconsolate figure on the bench.
The homegrown teenager excelled after he came on, proving so comfortable on the ball and key to the shift in the game that ended with City winning 1-0.
Six days later - and after Cancelo had only got half an hour off the bench in the FA Cup win over Chelsea, enough to pick up a booking - he started the League Cup quarter-final tie at Southampton, this time on the right of a more conventional 4-4-2.
He would escape the attentions of Guardiola in the first half as he was stationed on the opposite of the of the pitch, with young left-back Sergio Gomez the main culprit in City's poor 45 minutes that saw them 2-0 down.
However, then Guardiola got his chance as he repeatedly encouraged Cancelo to get more involved and do what he wanted him to do in the second half.
He couldn't do it as City were well beaten, and Guardiola's frustrations were clear with the 28-year-old, whose body language - something Guardiola looks to a lot when judging his team - certainly not translating well.
Just under three weeks later, and via a Manchester derby start, it appears as though Cancelo will never play for Guardiola again.
