Even before a ball was kicked, Manchester United bosses expected a hard season in 2019-20.
Everton more than matched the asking price to loan defender Marcos Rojo on deadline day but the deal was canned at the last minute over fears that Marco Silva already had a stronger squad. Chris Smalling was told he could not move to Goodison Park but was allowed to join Roma.
Privately, Silva accused United of sabotaging Everton's season before it had started by leaving him with just two senior centre-backs, one of whom (Yerry Mina) only managed 10 league starts in 2018-19 because of injury.