From the chaotic to the ridiculous, Manchester United's summer transfer window has left their recruitment team red-faced.
By the time Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's men were mauled 6-1 in their own back yard by Tottenham Hotspur, they had only secured the signing of Donny van de Beek.
As Luke Shaw hurtled to the floor still clinging to Lucas Moura by the studs, so went the green light to bring in Alex Telles.
The last-ditch panic buy of Edinson Cavani followed - but it has not papered over the cracks.
Solskjaer and his captain Harry Maguire have borne the brunt of the criticism in the days since their latest abject display, but Ed Woodward is also feeling the wrath of United fans after two defeats in three league games.
Woodward, who famously tried to justify the signing of Radamel Falcao by citing the number of Google searches attached to his name, failed Solskjaer and ultimately, failed the club.
It is one thing to point to stretched finances in the midst of a pandemic, though United's top-four rivals did not seem too inhibited.
The violins get even smaller when it's considered the United board spent months pursuing Jadon Sancho, only to learn that Borussia Dortmund wanted £100 million for him - the price tag they'd been quoted all along.
So how better could they have occupied themselves and their budget?
Dayot Upamecano
RB Leipzig's 21-year-old defender is valued at £54m, per Transfermarkt. It's £26m less than United deigned to pay for Maguire and crucially, it would have addressed their most urgent needs at centre-back.
Kalidou Koulibaly
One of Serie A's finest defenders has been courted by both Chelsea and Manchester City in the past. A price tag of £58.5m might seem a lot for a 29-year-old, but United should be asking themselves a serious question about their centre-backs: Are they looking for a partner for Maguire, or a senior defender to replace him as first choice if he keeps making errors?
Jack Grealish
Inside a week, Liverpool and Wales have fallen victim to Grealish's vision. The Aston Villa midfielder has banished talk that his free role makes him an awkward fit. While he would have been difficult to lure away from his boyhood club, United didn't do enough after targeting him in the early part of the summer.
Wilfried Ndidi
United are still light in midfield and they ought to have one eye on next summer especially after Paul Pogba once again flirted with Real Madrid in the media while on international duty. Last season, only Aaron Wan-Bissaka (129) made more tackles than Ndidi (128) in the Premier League. The Leicester man could provide some much needed mettle.
Pau Torres
The Spanish international has been compared to Gerard Pique in his homeland. Torres is an elegant centre-back who likes to play the ball, but whom United did not seem serious about.
Raphael Varane
Stop us if you've heard this one before. The Real Madrid defender would not come cheap - he's valued in excess of £60m, in fact - but could United not have offset some of that cost by shifting the likes of Phil Jones and Marcos Rojo? Both were made available, but Woodward was unable to broker deals to get them off the books.
James Tarkowski
According to The Athletic, United were told that a deal was doable if they wanted to sign the Burnley defender. Perhaps Tarkowski lacks the glamour of some of the names mentioned above, but if United's transfer budget were as tight as we are led to believe, then an England international with top-flight experience would have been a decent addition.
United still have time to rectify some of their mistakes with the EFL window still open.
The coming weeks will say a lot about the board's appetite for improvement.