Manchester United continued to embarrass itself at the close of the transfer window with a rather shocking move. David De Gea was about to fulfill his destiny to go to Real Madrid. The deal was made and in return it seemed that the Red Devils would acquire the services of elite keeper Keylor Navas.

Yet the team somehow botched the paperwork, one minute after the deadline was due.

Was this on purpose or did Manchester United truly miss the deadline that everyone was keeping an eye on? Both teams have played the tit-for-tat game, but the reality is that, money aside, Manchester United is the big loser in this entire situation.

De Gea rejected a contract extension and had made it clear that he wished to go to Spain's capital. Moreover, this is his final year under contract, and next year he is sure to leave for no cost to make his wish come true. In turn, Manchester loses its best keeper for nothing.

Manchester held the cards for a while, especially once Madrid's desire to sign De Gea became apparent. Instead of quickly capitalizing, the team stalled and sought a means to up its asking price. The result? De Gea asked to get out and started a protracted saga that had an inevitable conclusion.

Until it didn't. The problem is that, at the end of the day, Manchester lost its bargaining power and yet was getting 35 million euros from Madrid for its top keeper's services. This was true even after Madrid regained some bargaining power in Keylor Navas, a keeper that has proven his worth.

Now United gets to keep an unhappy De Gea and lose him next season for nothing. Sergio Romero is under contract, but his recent displays have shown that he is not on the elite level of Navas or De Gea. Louis Van Gaal has issues with Victor Valdés, who is also a superior goalie to Romero, thus harming the team further in its pursuits to return to Europe's elite.

This is not a blip on the radar, however. After the embarrassment of losing Pedro to Chelsea, missing out on Cesc Fàbregas, being used by Sergio Ramos to leverage a bigger contract from Real Madrid, and even getting rid of the terrific Ángel Di Maria without a discernible replacement or even a top level striker to fill out the team's attack, it is clear that the richest team in England is now its biggest laughing stock.