Manchester United insist Real Madrid were the ones to blame for the shock 11th-hour collapse of David de Gea's proposed move to the Bernabeu.
United and Madrid had agreed a deal worth £29million for the sale of the Spanish goalkeeper on Monday, with Keylor Navas coming to Old Trafford as part of the agreement.
But shortly after the 11pm deadline for European transfers it emerged the necessary paperwork had not been lodged in time and the deal had therefore fallen through.
There was no sign of De Gea's name, nor that of Navas, on a confirmed list of La Liga transfers, which was published after the deadline had passed.
United insist they uploaded the requisite documents to FIFA's Transfer Matching System before Monday's 11pm deadline (BST).
Sources at Old Trafford have rejected reports in Spain that they submitted their paperwork after the deadline and claim they have a time-stamp from FIFA as proof.
It is understood that United feel it was Madrid who failed to file their paperwork in time and believe they must take the blame for the deal's collapse. Reports in Spain indicated the documents did not reach the Spanish league office until 28 minutes after the deadline.
Although Madrid retain a glimmer of hope that the deal will somehow go through, there have never been any successful appeals regarding late transfers in the league's history.
In February this year, Levante lost an attempt to overturn a ruling that cancelled their loan bid for Fulham's Bryan Ruiz because they had missed the deadline for submission.
Quite why Madrid left it so late to try to secure De Gea's signature is a source of debate among the powers that be at Old Trafford.
Madrid made De Gea their number one target earlier this summer following the departure of Iker Casillas to Porto and the two-time United player of the year himself was determined to complete the move too.
The 24-year-old, who joined United from Real's neighbours Atletico Madrid four years ago, hails from the Spanish capital and his pop star girlfriend Edurne Garcia also lives in the city.
But it was not until the final day of the window that Madrid made their first significant bid for the player, and that was too late to get the deal over the line.
The United board are said to be ''relaxed'' about the situation.
Although De Gea is yet to play for the club this season, United know they will now have a world-class goalkeeper to choose, should he be deemed mentally fit enough to play in Louis van Gaal's eyes.
The United manager will be hoping to wrap up his £36million move for Monaco striker Anthony Martial before the Premier League transfer window shuts at 6pm on Tuesday.
More incomings and outgoings are expected. United have received offers for defender Marcos Rojo, but he wants to stay.
Young striker James Wilson could go out on loan.
Adnan Januzaj was the first out of the door on Monday, joining Borussia Dortmund on a season-long loan.
He was closely followed by Javier Hernandez, who signed for Bayer Leverkusen for 10 million euros (£7.3million). Anders Lindegaard became the third United player to leave on Monday when he signed for West Brom on a free transfer.
FIFA is understood to be looking into the details surrounding the collapsed transfer but it would be up to Real Madrid to make an appeal as it is the Spanish transfer window which has closed.
The only grounds for a successful appeal would be if the club could prove there was a failure in the administration involving the Spanish authorities.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here